ATURE 
 
***« ******* 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 "4 
 
 Section 
 
 
 Shdf 
 
 
The Gospel in Nature 
 
 A SERIES OF POPULAR DISCOURSES ON SCRIPTURE 
 TRUTHS DERIVED FROM 
 
 Facts in Nature 
 
 By HENRY C. McCOOK, D. D. 
 
 Author of "The Agricultural Ant of Texas " 
 
 " The Honey and Occident Ants" 
 
 " Tenants of an Old Farm " 
 
 Etc., Etc., Etc. 
 
 new YORK : 
 WILBUR B. KETCHAM. 
 
 71 BIBLE HOUSE. 
 
Copyright, 1887, bj Henry c. McCo«k. 
 
TO MY WIFE, 
 
 EMMA HERTER McCOOK, 
 
 who has shared with me 
 
 alike the lights and shadows 
 
 of a quarter century 
 
 of married life, 
 
 this book 
 
 is lovingly dedicated 
 
 as a memorial of our common 
 
 Jubilee Birth-Year. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 For many years it has been the author's custom to preach a 
 series of Sunday afternoon discourses on special themes. In the 
 selection and treatment of these subjects he has used a larger lib- 
 erty, and taken a wider range than is usually allowed in the ordi- 
 nary sermon. The following book is the outgrowth of this custom, 
 as was also the writer's last work, "The Women Friends of Jesus." 
 The church which he serves happens to be located in the neigh- 
 borhood of the University of Pennsylvania, and is therefore within 
 easy reach of a great number of students, especially in the depart- 
 ments of medicine, biology, dental and veterinary surgery. With 
 a view in great part to attract and influence for good this company 
 of young men, the discourses on the "Gospel in Nature" were 
 preached. 
 
 It will be observed that they are based almost entirely upon 
 atmospheric phenomena, and the lessons presented are largely 
 illustrated by natural imagery. Every lecture was introduced by 
 a prelude giving a simple explanation of the natural facts or phe- 
 nomena chosen as a symbol. This treatment in itself proved not 
 only attractive to many who are eager to obtain such knowledge 
 of nature, but was calculated to give all hearers a more intelligent 
 understanding of the spiritual truths conveyed ; for it is obvious 
 that a parable or metaphor drawn from nature cannot be fully 
 apprehended without a knowledge of the natural drapery of the 
 thought. A popular style of presenting the matter in hand was, 
 of course, necessary before a popular audience ; and this style has 
 been preserved in the printed lectures. 
 
 In the course of the twenty lectures here published many of the 
 living questions of this era are introduced and more or less freely 
 considered. They are not treated in a controversial spirit ; indeed, 
 at times they are barely alluded to in direct terms ; but those truths 
 and arguments are presented which have been thought best calcu- 
 lated to prevent or clear away doubts engendered by misleading 
 lights of science, literature or art. In short, the author has sought 
 to avoid that treatment which, in dealing with the religious difficul- 
 ties that earnest, candid and thoughtful minds are required to 
 
 (5) 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 so magnifies the statement of the difficulty in order to an- 
 swer it. that the objection rather than the explanation remains, 
 and doubt is crystallized rather than dissolved. 
 
 T- n of these lectures were issued, one every week as delh 
 under the auspices of the Young Men's Church Asso< iation of the 
 Tabemade Church. The enterprise was attempted with a view of 
 furnishing religious reading especially to invalids, the .i , A<--<~\. and 
 others detained from Sunday worship and instruction, as well as 
 rsons who do not habitually attend church services. It was 
 successful beyond ex , as a large number of copies was 
 
 thus distributed as current literature. It is hoped that readers 
 wb i have fallen in with those occasional issues may wish to pi 
 the entire series in this book form. 
 
 The Bible If a creation of the Divine Spirit by the 
 
 profound sympathy which it has with physical nature. On the 
 other hand Nature shows the traces <>f her Creator's touch by the 
 readiness with which she yields up her every form and force to be 
 the drapery and sign of spiritual truths. Nature is God's 
 
 The undevout eye may read the title, finger 
 the covers, scan the title-page, the frontispiece, the pictures, may 
 even con some of the broader script ; but it needs a devout mind 
 is to drink in the hidden meanings, to come 
 into very spiritual communion with the Divine Author's most holy, 
 vital and vitalizing thoughts. 
 
 That is why those holy men of old, who spake as they were 
 
 '. by the Holy • .host in their moments of inspiration, read 
 
 religious lessons in the sky, the sea, the earth, stars, Bowers and 
 
 birds, in leaf, cloud and murmuring brook, in mountain, storm 
 
 an I snow-crystal ; "found books in the running brooks, sermons 
 
 rything." There is no nature-book so 
 
 : of < '■• 'd. The auth( >r 
 
 forth this volume with the earnest wish that it may bring to a feu 
 
 of his fellow-men some n continuation of this truth . •; 
 
 ' ition. 
 Tin: M \ 
 
 '. rsRiAN Chi r< h, 
 Philadelphia, July jd, A. D. . 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lecture I. — God as Force 9 
 
 Lecture II. — Mist, or Vapor of Water 25 
 
 Lecture III. — The Dew : God's Silent Blessings 41 
 
 Lecture IV. — The Dew of Hermon 59 
 
 Lecture V. — Hail : God's Reserves of War 77 
 
 Lecture VI.— Snow Crystals : God as Geometer 99 
 
 Lecture VII.— Snow Beds: The Uses of Adversity ... 117 
 Lecture VIII.— Snow-Whiteness : The Glory of Christ . . 135 
 
 Lecture IX.— Snow-Purity : Human Perfection 157 
 
 Lecture X.— The Rainfall 177 
 
 Lecture XL— Showers of Blessing 197 
 
 Lecture XII.— The Bow in the Cloud 213 
 
 Lecture XIII.— The Rainbow Around the Throne .... 235 
 
 Lecture XIV. — The Angel and the Rainbow 255 
 
 Lecture XV. — Lessons from the Spring 277 
 
 Lecture XVI.— The Birth of the Flowers 295 
 
 Lecture XVII. — Beautiful Flowers and Tender Grapes . . 309 
 
 Lecture XVIII.— The Salt of the Earth 331 
 
 Lecture XIX. — A Man's Natural Right to Own Land . . . 349 
 Lecture XX. — May a Christian Own Land ? 367 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 God as Force. 
 
 " The blessed and Only Potentate, * 
 
 to whom be power eternal." — I. Tim. vi. 15. 
 
GOD AS FORCE. 
 
 A critical study of the New Testament uncovers evi- 
 dence of the existence of hymns in the primitive church. 
 The Magnificat, the Benedictus, the Gloria in Excelsis, 
 the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon were outbursts of song 
 which mark the very beginning of the Christian era. The 
 new spirit of praise thus manifest doubtless expressed 
 itself at an early period in new forms, although we know 
 that the ancient Psalms which had voiced the worship 
 of the Church through so many ages were by no means 
 set aside. Among the indications of early hymns pre- 
 sented by the New Testament is the passage of which 
 our text forms a part. It is thought to be an ancient 
 doxology used separately or attached to some hymn. 
 We can better perceive the justice of this opinion, per- 
 haps, by presenting the passage in this form : — 
 The blessed and only Potentate 
 The King of kings and Lord of lords, 
 Who only hath immortality, 
 Dwelling in light unapproachable, 
 Whom no man hath seen nor can see, 
 To whom be honor and power eternal. 
 Amen ! 
 This ancient hymn or confession expresses a truth 
 which when illustrated by the facts of Nature transcends 
 the utmost flight of fancy. I can therefore hope to be 
 only partially successful in the purpose thus to present it. 
 
 I. God is the supreme Force of the universe, the sov- 
 ereign Potentate. 
 
 Jehovah is the supreme Lord. Such is the voice of 
 Scripture. God is the Almighty One ; " a mighty for- 
 tress is our God."* The Pagans were not unmindful of 
 
 * "Ein feste Burg ist Unser Gott." — Luther's Hymn. 
 
 (ii) 
 
12 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 tlii ^ fact, for the Jupiter or Jove of ancient Latins and 
 Greeks, the Thor of the Norseman with his mighty 
 thunder hammer, were expressions to the men of past 
 of the truth that there is above all gods and all 
 .ukI forms of Nature some one being, some one 
 power who is entitled to the supreme place. 
 
 The truth thus dimly seen by the Gentiles, the Jews 
 rned fully. Their Lord was the Almighty. Their 
 theology is transmitted to the Christian Church which 
 equally believes in the all-potency of the Divine Being, 
 and puts at the very front of its creed the article "I 
 believe in God the Father Almighty." 
 
 F. Our first natural illustration of this truth we shall 
 take from one of the most familiar objects — water. This 
 element consists <>f two permanent gases condensed by 
 the force of chemical affinity to the liquid condition. 
 
 >f the gases is oxygenj the other united with it in 
 double proportion is hydrogen! Hydrogen is a com- 
 bustible gas fourteen and a half times lighter than air — 
 one of the lightest forms of matter known. A cubic 
 
 •f water is equal to eighteen hundred cubic feet of 
 a mixture of these gases. How has that mixture been 
 accomplished and how is it maintained? The answer 
 to these questions introduces • us to the fact that these 
 two constituents of water so persistently retain their 
 aerial condition that it requires a pressure of twenty 
 tons to the square inch to reduce them to the liquid 
 state. Can you conceive of so immense a force as this 
 — forty thousand pounds to the square inch ? It requires 
 all the mechanical skill p i by man to apply it 
 
 very drop of water upon the face of the earth is 
 
 held in the liquid state by such a pressure as this. How 
 is itheld? What— WHO holdsit? To strengthen 
 illustration let us compare force with f 
 
 Water is e.isily decomposed by electricity, What 
 amount of thi rwould be equal to force apart the 
 
 constituent gases of water ? 
 
 lished philosopher (and he was a Christian 
 philosopher), Prof Michael Faraday, proved that it re- 
 quires more electricil' i single drop of 
 
GOD AS FORCE. 13 
 
 water than to cliarge a thunderbolt. If we reverse the 
 proposition, therefore, we shall see that the pressure 
 required to hold the gaseous constituents of water in their 
 liquid state is equal to as many times the force of elec- 
 tricity contained within a thunderbolt as there are drops 
 in the water itself.* In the face of this fact think of the 
 ocean reaching to great depths and covering three-fourths 
 of the surface of the globe. Think of that atmospheric 
 ocean — the water contained in vapor forever held in sus- 
 pense in the air above us. Think of the water which 
 goes to make up in large proportion all living things in 
 the animal and vegetable world. So thinking, will you 
 stop to raise the question — nay, our question must be 
 simply an exclamation — what powet, what infinite power 
 is here expressed ! 
 
 2. Our second illustration is the atmosphere, or rather 
 the play of forces by which its physical condition is 
 compelled. Two mighty forces are continually acting 
 thereon. The one is heat, which tends to expand it and 
 force it like an unbent coil into surrounding space. The 
 other force is gravitation, which grasps the atmosphere 
 and holds it to the surface of the earth. These two 
 opposing forces are so balanced that they maybe said to 
 be held in equilibrium, and few persons would suspect 
 the vastness of either one. 
 
 Let us take the simple experiment which most students 
 have made or seen made with Torricelli's tube, and from 
 its results make these calculations. The pressure of the 
 atmosphere on one man is equal to sixteen tons — thirty- 
 two thousand pounds.f The pressure of the atmosphere 
 upon this church is much more than the weight of the 
 building itself. The pressure of the atmosphere upon 
 one square mile of the earth's surface is over twenty-six 
 millions of tons. The pressure of the atmosphere on 
 the entire State of Pennsylvania with its forty-six thou- 
 sand square miles is equal to two million three hundred 
 and ninety-two thousand millions of pounds, or in other 
 
 *Cooke — "Religion and Chemistry," page 159. t Fourteen 
 tons, A. Buchan — Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. Atmosphere. 
 
14 THE G( >SPEL FN X. 1 Tl T RR 
 
 words two quadrillions three hundred and ninety-two 
 trillions of pounds. 
 
 This is the work that gravity does in the whole v. 
 upon the elements of the atmosphere alone. 
 
 Now consider the power that balances all this. What 
 
 15 it ? The sun's heat ; the force that is lodged in sun- 
 beams. How softly they fell I How they brighten the 
 face of Nature ! 1 low gladly wc welcome them as they 
 steal gently through the window glass to sweeten and 
 cheer the frosty brow of winter, or Rood the fields and 
 hills to gladden and enrich the soft days of spring. 
 What gentle things they are! How noiselessly they 
 fall ! Yet all this force is lodged within their touch. 
 
 Attempt now to bring together in imagination all the 
 energies acting at one moment on the earth, and unite 
 them in one tremendous aggregate. Begin with the 
 power of the air expressed in all its motions from the 
 tornado to the zephyr. Next think of the force of elec- 
 tricity with its phenomena of lightning and thunder, and 
 those heretofore hidden stores which modern pin 
 science has brought to light and enlisted in the service 
 of man. Think next of the mechanical power expressed 
 in the flow of waters, in streams and rivers, in cascades, 
 and Falls of Niagara, in ocean currents, in the sluggish 
 creeping of the glacier and the swift crash of the ava- 
 lanche. 
 
 Think again of those forces at work in vegetable and 
 animal life; such for example as lift up might}' forests 
 above the earth and hold them there. Think again of 
 the force of fire, so terrible in our experience when it 
 s upon our homes or business pla< weeps un- 
 
 restrained through vast cities. Think of the force of 
 powder, or steam, or dynamite, which, however, are but 
 insignificant things compared with the rest. Think of 
 every other known and conceivable power, then make all 
 the allowance that you ( ho< ise for discount of your cl 
 calculations and sum them all up. Let us see what part 
 of the whole by reasonable calculation and estimate they 
 
 may express. 
 
 This — one two thousand three hundred millionth i f 
 the force which the sun is every moment pouring into 
 
GOD AS FORCE. 1 5 
 
 space.* In other words, divide the force of the sun into 
 two thousand three hundred million parts — all these 
 vast powers which you have attempted to set in array- 
 before your imagination would be equal simply to one 
 of those parts. 
 
 That would seem to be enough. Imagination falters. 
 Thought staggers in vain endeavor to conceive of such 
 power. But we must not stop here. We have but 
 placed our feet upon the outer steps leading to the 
 threshold of the realm of facts that lie beyond. For, 
 what is the sun ? A small star in the infinitude of 
 space ! Yet the grand total of the powers streaming 
 from all the suns seen in our night sky and undiscover- 
 ed in its stellar deeps alone represents the active energy 
 of the universe. 
 
 What is that energy ? God, — The very Power of God 
 acting in all action. f God — the Will of GOD.| 
 
 There is now present in this country a welcome visitor, 
 one of the most distinguished of British naturalists, Mr. 
 Alfred Russel Wallace. He enjoys the unique distinction 
 of being, jointly with the late Mr. Darwin, the inventor of 
 the theory of natural selection as applied to the evolution 
 of species. He differs from Mr. Darwin, however, in one 
 exception which he makes to the law of natural selection. 
 That exception is the most notable of all objects in the 
 universe, the crown, the head of all — even man himself. 
 Man, Mr. Wallace thinks, never could have been pro- 
 duced by those evolutionary laws which he believes to 
 operate in the production of all the lower creatures. 
 In one of his works,§ while speaking on the limits of 
 natural selection as applied to man, he uses these words : 
 " All force is probably will-force." " Force is the pro- 
 duct of mind." In leading his readers up to the thought 
 that the mind, out of which all force is originated, is the 
 supreme intelligence whom we call God, he alludes to 
 the operation of the human will. " If will is anything," 
 he says, " it is a power that directs the action of forces 
 stored up in the body, and it is not conceivable that this 
 
 *Cooke — " Religion and Chemistry," page 304. f McCosh — 
 " Christianity and Positivism," page 15. % Prof. Flint — "The- 
 ism," page 112. \ On Natural Selection, page 366, Sqq. 
 
1 6 THE Gi 'SI'/:/. IN N 1 Tl HE. 
 
 direction can take place without the lm n ise of some 
 te part of the organism. In the animal 
 
 machine, hi >w ever minute may be the changes required in 
 
 the cells or fibres of the brain to set in motion the nerve 
 currents which loosen or excite the pent-up fore 
 certain muscles, some force must be required to i 
 those changi 
 
 In other words, you bend your arm. The supreme 
 and ultimate power which compels that action is the 
 human will. You ilex your arm, and throw it out 
 with such vigor as to fell to the ground the enemy, 
 or man, who would assail your lffe. The ultimate 
 power compelling that action is the human will. From 
 such analogy Mr. Wallace rises to the lesson which it 
 seems to me, by fair implication, is taught in our text. 
 I quote his words : — 
 
 "If, therefore, we have traced one force, however 
 minute, to an origin in our will, while we have no 
 knowledge of any other primary cause of force, it docs 
 not seem an improbable conclusion that all force may be 
 will-force; and thus that the whole universe is not 
 merely dependent on, but actually is, the will of higher 
 intelligences or of one Supreme Intelligence. It has been 
 often .•-aid that the true poet is a seer; and in the noble 
 verse of an American poetess, we find expressed what 
 may prove to be the highest fact of science, the noblest 
 truth of philos. iphy : " 
 
 of the granite and the 
 
 Soul of the sparrow and tin- !- 
 'I'll-- mighty tide of being tl"\\ - 
 
 Through countless channels, Lord, from thee. 
 It leaps t" life in grass .mil Bow< 
 
 Through every grade "i being runs, 
 While from creation's radiant towers 
 
 Its glory BameS in stars and sun--. 
 
 II. Our text yet another truth, viz., that God is 
 
 the blessed a- « ell .is the only Potentate. The almighty 
 is the Father Almighty I The supreme power in whose 
 
 hands we all lie is a power of supreme benevolence. 
 
 It is certain that Study of Nature's works opens up 
 to us from many quarters tin- truth that the divine 
 
GOD AS FORCE. 1 7 
 
 Overmind and controlling Will is one of benevolence. 
 God's creatures are, for the most part, blessed. But the 
 perfect lesson of the supreme goodness of God must come 
 to us from other sources than Nature. The truth is, Na- 
 ture, in some of its phases, fills man and lower creatures 
 with terror, and justly so. Storm, tornado, lightning, 
 the wild lashing of sea waves, floods, fire, hail, and frost 
 — these are in the aggregate benevolent forces, but alas! 
 to multitudes of individuals they bring suffering and 
 death. We do not wonder that they have raised in the 
 minds of untutored man, and men without a complete 
 revelation of the character of God, the suggestion of 
 hostility and malignity in the character of Deity. 
 
 This thought has had and still has expression in the 
 deities of pagan nations. Those gods are gods of cru- 
 elty and revenge too often, and their unhappy devotees 
 are the victims of terror, which through all their lives 
 they seek to remove by placating the angry powers 
 above and around them. Men who have derived their 
 theology from no source but Nature, have personified and 
 deified the sternest and crudest forces, rather than the 
 gentlest and most benevolent. At least such gods have 
 been most honored because most feared. To know God 
 as he is we must turn from Nature to the revealed Word. 
 The Bible supplements the book of creation. When we 
 can read the mighty works of the Supreme Power as in- 
 terpreted by words of Hebrew prophets and the life of 
 the Son of God, then and only then can we see the force 
 of the apostle's title, "the blessed Potentate." 
 
 Travelers inform us that those who live upon the 
 equator command at night a view of both the stellar 
 hemispheres. In our latitude we see the northern con- 
 stellations led by the "Great Bear" as he swings upon 
 his ceaseless rounds about the polar star. In the south- 
 ern hemisphere men gaze upon the " Southern Cross." 
 But standing at the equator midway between the two, 
 the eye glances northward and southward alike, sweeping 
 over the whole dome of heaven from the Great Bear to 
 the Southern Cross. Even thus it is that we may come 
 to that line in the history of human redemption that 
 marks for us the advent and the sacrifice of Christ. 
 
I S THE G( >SPEL TN X. I Tl "A/;. 
 
 With our thought upon the infinite love of God as 
 expressed in the life and death of Jesus, we are enabled 
 t<> sweep that undivided dome of truth concerning the 
 character of God which leaves him upon his throne an 
 object of love. Nature's teachings give lis one vi 
 the hemisphere. The Old Testament Scriptures and hu- 
 man theology give us another view of the hemisphere. 
 But when we stand with Jesus the Christ at the altar of 
 Golgotha our eye covers the whole expanse, and we 
 know that the dome of truth is one. The Lamb is" in the 
 midst of the Throne!" Benevolence is sovereign still ! 
 
 i. Turning then to the inspired word for lessons which 
 we would associate with our natural facts, we [carn,/irst, 
 
 that the power of God is in subjection to his goodness. 
 There is no more significant text in all Scripture, as it 
 seems to me, than the saying of St. Paul, "We preach 
 Christ crucified — Christ the power of (]<>>' 
 
 Wonderful as are the applications of power in nature, 
 as we have just briefly reviewed them, the manifestation 
 of power that appears in the life and death oi Jesus is 
 more wonderful still. Take your seat with his disciples 
 on the Mount of Beatitudes, and listen to the words 
 of Him who spake as never man spake. The scene in 
 seems insignificant enough, an assemblage of hum- 
 ble people in a remote spot of a remote land, a conquered 
 province. Yetthese words, filling softly like droj 
 
 r, have carried within them a potency beyond the 
 thought of man t ite. They have subdued and 
 
 held the nations of mightiest force. They have regen- 
 
 i the state, have permeatt d the race. Their inher- 
 ent power has borne them and those who believed them 
 over all oppositioi ietv; all persecutions of kings 
 
 and priests; all trials, suffering, and ten death. 
 
 The power of God has been in them, the very migl 
 manifestation of his power, that which lie-, under the 
 spiritual realm. 
 
 On your stand upon the summit of Mount 
 
 Calvary. Liftyoureyesto the central cross of those three 
 
 * I. Corinthian 
 
COD AS FORCE. 1 9 
 
 standing there in the midst of mailed soldiers of iron 
 Rome, mocking priests of Israel's temple, and howling- 
 citizens of Judah's town. Look upon the pale figure 
 hanging there ! His thorn-crowned head is bowed upon 
 his pierced breast; his hands and feet are bleeding and 
 distorted with wounds of nails driven by hireling soldiers. 
 Could anyone seem more helpless than he? He is dead! 
 Yet that silent figure, issuing from the tomb in which 
 loving hands had laid him, stands to-day regnant over 
 those nations of the world who are mightiest in all ele- 
 ments of human force, and lifts aloft the emblem of the 
 accursed tree on which he died as the sign of the faith 
 of millions. This is " Christ crucified — Christ the power 
 of God." 
 
 Reasoning from any standpoint of human philoso- 
 phy, I do not know how it is that a life and death such 
 as this should have had results so wonderful. But when 
 I turn to the blessed book of God, and reverently accept 
 the lesson written there that he who thus lived, spoke, 
 and died was not man simply, but bore within himself 
 the power of the invisible God; when I read that he sits 
 now in glory at the right hand of the majesty on high, 
 to command in behalf of his Church and people every 
 force among men, and if need be, every force in nature, 
 I can understand the secret of his triumph. It issues 
 from the source of infinite power, for he who controls it 
 is Christ — the power of God. Great as are the marvels 
 which divine force in nature accomplishes, greater still 
 are those which in the name of Jesus are won from erring 
 hearts, and blinded minds, and perverted spirits, and 
 wayward passions, and wicked intents of the race of 
 men. 
 
 2. A second lesson which we derive from our subject 
 is that the noblest use of power is the rescue of the 
 weak and support of the true. What an inspiring view 
 of divine character is that uncovered to us through the 
 words of Isaiah ! (lvii. 15.) " For thus saith the High and 
 Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy : 
 I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is 
 of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of 
 
20 THE GOSPEL IX .X ATI 'RE. 
 
 the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." 
 This God, whose infinitude of power we have dimly 
 pictured to our thought by its manifestations in the 
 natural world, who inhabiteth immensity and through 
 all his lofty seats exerts his eternal strength, this is He 
 who stoops from the throne of his power to dwell in 
 the humblest seat of human weakness, the heart of a 
 penitent sinner. 
 
 The same truth is no less significantly revealed to us 
 in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, where the divine strength 
 is depicted in words of striking beauty and faithfulness. 
 " Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his 
 hand and meted out heaven with a span, and compre- 
 hended the dust of the earth in scales, and weighed the 
 mountains in scales and the hills in a balance ? " " It is 
 he who sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the in- 
 habitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth 
 out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as 
 a tent to dwell in. Lift up your eyes on high and see 
 who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by 
 number : He calleth them all by name ; by the greatness 
 of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one 
 is lacking." Think of that! God likened to a shepherd 
 leading out the stars as one would lead forth his sheep, 
 tamed to subjection and every one known and named ! 
 
 What is the purpose of this sublime picturing of the 
 infinite power of the Creator? It is this, and mark the 
 lesson well! (verse 29): " He giveth power to the faint, 
 and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. 
 Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young 
 men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord 
 shall renew their strength; the}' shall mount up with 
 wings as eagles, they shall run and not weary, they shall 
 walk and not faint." 
 
 Well may the feeble ones, the faint-hearted and weak- 
 lings of this our world of sorrows, rejoice that He who is 
 almighty has pledged his power to a purpose such as this. 
 Would that I could persuade all such to come this day 
 with their burdens and lay them down at his feet ! 
 
 " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest." 
 
GOD AS FORCE. 21 
 
 What a lesson in practical duty is suggested to us by 
 these teachings ! Do you possess strength in any of its 
 many forms ? Strength of body, financial strength, 
 social strength, intellectual power ? What is the noblest 
 use to which you can put it ? 
 
 The learned Egyptologist, Eber,* puts these noble 
 words upon the lips of Rameses, the ancient Pharaoh : 
 " The only real divine attribute of our royal condition is 
 that it is so easy for a king to make men happy." The 
 men and women of strength are the kings and queens of 
 this modern world of ours. Let them see to it that they 
 are not wanting in that divine element of strength which 
 brings to the sorrowful and weak the boon of happiness 
 and the gift of help. Thus shall they enter into the life 
 of and be yoke-fellows together with him who is the 
 blessed Potentate. 
 
 3. Again, it is within the boundary of this thought to 
 suggest that in all the exercise of divine power of which 
 we have spoken there is no waste of energy. Economy 
 in the use of forces is certainly a law of nature. Would 
 that man might learn this lesson ! Much human energy 
 in Church, in philanthropic endeavor, in political life is 
 simply wasted. It is wasted not merely because misdi- 
 rected, but because it is without direction and regulation. 
 There is scarce a gift of Nature, so lavish of noblest re- 
 sources to this young land, that we do not use like the 
 veriest spendthrifts. We foolishly and mercilessly hew 
 down our forests, wasting far more than we use. We 
 exhaust our fat soils with reckless disregard of the fu- 
 ture. Thus it is through all the circle of our national 
 domain. It is true as well in the domain of intellectual 
 and religious forces. We are prodigal in their expen- 
 diture to a fault. Our social life is so ordered that we 
 drink up the streams of vitality as " Behemoth " the 
 rivers. We spend young lives by scores of thousands, 
 casting them away as freely as the Canaanites of old 
 offered them in sacrifice to Moloch. This is a deplorable 
 condition of society! Is there no remedy for it? Will 
 
 * Uarda, By Geo. Eber. 
 
77/A' G( >S /'/■:/. IN X. I TL 'RE. 
 
 we never learn to treasure the noblest gifts of nature, 
 those high faculties and forces which beat within the 
 I of man himself? We deplore the waste of forests 
 and fields, and it is sad enough. But sadder far than 
 this is the waste of which I speak, because utterly irrepar- 
 able. We must learn to distinguish between wise activ- 
 ity and wasteful action. We must learn that hurry is 
 not always haste; that bustle is not business. That the 
 ceaseless go, and run, and racing over life's highway; 
 the grinding of our faculties in the noisy mills of human 
 excitement and occupations, do not necessarily add to 
 the force of our character or the effectiveness of our toil. 
 Men may be forceful without being fussy. 
 
 1, who is always self-poised, for the most part is 
 silent; his mightiest forces are voiceless. Work! work 
 all you can, but learn from God the lesson to work with- 
 out waste. 
 
 How shall I speak of that mournful waste of life's 
 powers which goes on daily among the victims of intem- 
 perance and lust? The heart grows heavy with grief as 
 one passes by the numerous tippling-shops in this 
 city, and remembers that those doors which swing out- 
 ward into our streets, open inward upon the gates of hell. 
 And through them are continually drawn into the fires 
 of death the noblest force of our fair town — our youth 
 and strong men. Oh, how pitiful I Mighty God, have 
 mercy! Make bare thine arm and stay this awful 
 waste ! 
 
 4. There is a final lesson which we associate witli the 
 teaching of our text. A lesson without which all others 
 will avail nothing. We know the almighty power ^i 
 God. We know the willingness of God both in the 
 physical and spiritual world to extend that power to 
 help man. Let us know also th.it that help is extended 
 through channels which are fixed by immutable law. 
 
 lie who would sail his ships across the sea calls to 
 
 his aid in one form or another th< of nature. If 
 
 he would spread his snowy sails to the winds of heaven 
 that their force may bear his cargo to a desired haven, 
 
 he must seek those parallels along which the trade 
 
GOD AS FORCE. 23 
 
 winds blow. In other words, he must conform his hu- 
 man machinery and action to the laws which regulate 
 the forces which he would utilize for his good. If he 
 would sail his vessel by steam he must conform his 
 machinery to the laws which regulate the force and the 
 application of force expressed by that mighty motor. 
 
 You have heard men speak of chaining lightning and 
 making it a servant to man's will. The figure is based 
 in part upon a truth ; but it is equally true that he who 
 would chain lightnings must first chain himself. In 
 other words, if electricity is to be made a servant of 
 man, man must conform himself to those laws imposed 
 by the almighty Will-force upon that physical force 
 which man seeks to utilize for his advantage. Men 
 never think otherwise in their relations to natural forces 
 in all lines of mechanics and commerce. Should they 
 not remember this also when they enter the domain 
 of spiritual forces? Are there no laws fixed for the 
 moral direction of man ? Are there no laws imposed 
 upon man for the accomplishment of salvation ? Surely 
 there are ! They are written for us in the holy pages of 
 the inspired Scripture, and to these we must bow our- 
 selves if we would be lifted by the hand of God into the 
 immortality of the blessed. 
 
 It is the law of the spiritual kingdom that without 
 holiness no man shall see God. It is a law of the 
 spiritual kingdom that whosoever believeth in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ shall be saved. Faith and righteousness, 
 these are channels along which runs for man that al- 
 mighty power which shall bear him in the end to eternal 
 glory. Outside of these channels no man dare hope for 
 redemption. Though he stand upon the very brink, and 
 be able to dip his finger in the full flowing stream of sav- 
 ing help, if he step not in and yield himself to the pow- 
 er appointed for his rescue, he must stand in his chosen 
 place — unsaved ! Sinful man, step into the channel ! 
 Yield thee to God's laws of grace. Believe ! Obey ! — 
 and thou shalt be saved. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 Mist, or Vapor of Water. 
 
 " For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that 
 appear eth for a little while, and then vanisheth away." 
 — James iv. 14. 
 
MIST, OR VAPOR OF WATER. 
 
 Vapor of water, mist or fog are common names for the 
 natural phenomenon which supplies the symbolism for 
 the spiritual lessons of this discourse. 
 
 A determined volume of air — a cubic foot, for example, 
 at a given temperature has the property of receiving cer- 
 tain quantities of vapor of water in an invisible state, or 
 as it is called, humidity. When it contains all the hu- 
 midity it is capable of receiving it is said to be saturated. 
 If then the temperature be increased the atmosphere will 
 hold more vapor. If the temperature be lowered, the 
 capacity for containing vapor is diminished and a part 
 thereof will be condensed, appearing within the atmos- 
 phere in the form of fog or mist, or will be precipitated 
 as dew, rain, or frost, according to the degree of cold and 
 consequent condensation. The moist air is, in fact, like 
 a sponge filled with water, which if it be squeezed by 
 pressure of any sort will yield up a portion of its con- 
 tents.* This pressure upon the atmosphere is supplied 
 by various causes, principally the presence and absence 
 of heat. 
 
 The air surrounding the earth is continually charged 
 more or less freely with the vapor of water. In the 
 aggregate the amount of moisture contained is immense. 
 Under ordinary circumstances it is so expanded by heat 
 of the sun's rays that it is invisible, but when the two 
 conditions of a moisture-charged atmosphere and a re- 
 duced temperature come together this invisible vapor is 
 condensed and becomes visible. As the earth is com- 
 monly cooler at nights, mist or fogs are more likely to 
 prevail during that season, or in the early morning when 
 the earth is most chilled by radiation. Since the air 
 which rests immediately over beds of water, running 
 
 * Guyot — " Earth and Man," page 152. 
 
 (27) 
 
28 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 streams, and moist bits of eartli is apt to be most freely 
 charged with vapor, we see mist or fog. more commonly 
 in such situations. 
 
 The great source of the aqueous atmosphere is the 
 torrid zone, where the heat of the sun converts water 
 into vapor in large quantities, and sets in play the cur- 
 rents by which humid air is distributed throughout the 
 earth. The general aqueous or vapor circulation has 
 well been compared to a great steam-heating apparatus 
 with its boilers in the tropics and the condensers all over 
 the globe. Any large building heated by steam will 
 therefore afford an object lesson by which this phenome- 
 non may be explained. The heat of furnaces converts 
 the water within the boilers into steam. Water, when 
 changed into vapor, absorbs more heat probably than any- 
 other liquid. The steam-pipes charged with this heated 
 steam are coiled within chambers, or distributed in series 
 of variously folded and interfolded loops throughout the 
 building. These iron pipes or condensers come in con- 
 tact with the cold air, w hereupon the steam is c« toled, and 
 in the process of condensation yields up its latent heat. 
 In some buildings, as in this church, cold, pure air from 
 the outside is blown through the condensing chamber 
 across iron pipes, and after- being thus heated, is forced 
 still further through long ducts which empty their heated 
 contents through the registers into the audience room. 
 
 Now, the cold earth, or a colder stratum of atmos- 
 phere, form conductors which come in contact with the 
 vapor-charged atmosphere and cause it to give up its 
 heat. Thus the invisible vapor being cooled is con- 
 densed and is yielded, as has already been stated, in the 
 form of rain, snow, dvw, and mist or fog. Mist is sim- 
 ply a coarser form of invisible vapor or a finer form of 
 dew. It is caused by a degree of cold which is just 
 enough to condense the vapor, but not enough to I 
 up its vaporous form and cause precipitation in dew. 
 
 Another, and perhaps even more familiar ami simpler, 
 
 illustration of this atmospheric phenomenon may be 
 
 given. Have you noticed your bed-room windows, 
 
 * Cooke — "Religion and Chemistry," 
 
MIST, OR I 'A FOR OF WATER. 
 
 2 9 
 
 when the weather is cold, covered with a fine mist 
 upon which you may write your name with your fin- 
 ger, or which you may wipe off with your handker- 
 chief, leaving the latter moist ? It is the aqueous vapor 
 from your own lungs which has been condensed into 
 mist by contact with the cold window-glass. Go out 
 into the air on a frosty morning, and as you breathe 
 you observe a little mist-cloud issuing from your mouth, 
 which is the result of the same process. If the doors 
 or windows be suddenly opened upon a heated and 
 crowded room, the atmosphere within the place will at 
 once become dim, a fact which is produced by the aque- 
 ous vapor from the multitude of lungs, previously invis- 
 ible on account of its greatly-rarefied condition, being 
 suddenly precipitated in the form of mist. If the weather 
 be intensely cold the entrance of fresh air may even cause 
 snow to fall. This has been observed in Russian ball- 
 rooms, and also in the subterranean stables at Erzeroom 
 when the doors are opened and the cold morning air is 
 permitted to enter.* Having thus explained the origin 
 and character of the natural phenomenon of mist or fog 
 or aqueous vapor, let us turn to the lessons which the 
 inspired writers have associated' therewith. 
 
 I. Our first lesson is drawn from the ephemeral nature 
 of vapor. "What is your life? It is a vapor, that ap- 
 peareth for a little while and then vanisheth away." 
 How apt a description is this of even the longest life! 
 "Like mist on the mountain, like waves of the sea, 
 So quickly the years of our pilgrimage flee." 
 
 The time allotted to us here is none too long to fulfill 
 the duties assigned us and make preparation for the life 
 which lies beyond. It is strange, indeed, that men should 
 be so careless of the fact, even while they are profoundly 
 convinced that there is a future for the soul, and that be- 
 yond the mists of this life there shall open an eternal day. 
 
 I once stood upon the highest peak of the Allegheny 
 hills in the vicinity of Pittsburgh and looked eastward 
 upon a beautiful landscape. Before me were rolling 
 
 *Tyndall — " Forms of Water," page 5. 
 
30 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 hills dotted with farm-house, cottage, and wood ; beyond 
 was the valley of the Monongahela, and beyond that 
 still the landscape stretched in more impressive beauty 
 
 until it grew dim in the distant horizon. An hour there- 
 after I looked again. A dense mist had risen from the 
 river, and the lovely scene on which I had gazed with 
 such delight was hidden. Only hidden ! for I knew 
 that the landscape still remained, and that the morrow's 
 sun would chase away the fog and reveal once more the 
 woods, cottages, farm-houses, and rolling hills. 
 
 It is not strange that those who are overwhelmed 
 with the cares and pressing engagements and hard con- 
 flicts of this life, should at times permit these things to 
 dim their views of God, of coming judgment, and the 
 Heaven of the redeemed. But certain it is that the fact 
 of these obscuring earth-born mists does not blot out 
 the more substantial facts of God and eternity. Behind 
 them all, beyond them all,. above them all, is that life 
 which shall be, and which shall open upon our vision 
 and enjoyment when the mists of death have fallen from 
 our mortal eyes forever, and our spirits have passed into 
 the sunlight of immortality. This life hides heaven, but 
 it comes out again with the vanishing mists. Knowing 
 that this is so, is it not -becoming that our energies 
 •should be addressed to prepare for the certainties that 
 await us after death ? The vapor vanishes, but the day 
 remains. Let us so live that we shall remain within the 
 precincts of the eternal day. 
 
 It is the duty of man to think of his life in this its 
 larger outlook. Even here, if he will, he may have 
 visions of himself, of his larger self as projected through 
 the lens of faith upon the years of futurity. The high- 
 est summit of the Hart/, mountains of Saxony is the 
 Blocksberg or Brocken. It is frequently veiled in mist 
 and cloud strata, and is celebrated for the phenomenon 
 known as tin- Spectre of the Brocken ("Brockenge- 
 
 I "), which is nothing more than the shadow of men, 
 houses, or other objects thrown upon the misty eastern 
 horizon by the light of sunset* 
 
 • Chambers' Ency< lopaedia, art. /.'.• 
 
MIST, OR VAPOR OF WATER. 3 I 
 
 A scientific man thus describes his experience of his 
 first sight of this spectre. In descending from one of 
 the summits he came into a region of mist, when sud- 
 denly turning a corner he saw standing before him two 
 immense human forms. For a moment he was startled. 
 A strange feeling as of superstition crept through his 
 frame. He stopped, and the figures stopped. He made 
 a motion, and the figures met it with a corresponding 
 movement. He lifted both hands, and the figures lifted 
 their two pairs of hands. He knew now that what he 
 saw was only himself projected against the mist and 
 greatly magnified by the light. It was the spectre of the 
 Brocken ! 
 
 " Sometimes, " says an eloquent preacher, " I think 
 God permits us to see ourselves magnified upon the very 
 cloud of vision. We have for a moment a glimpse of 
 our coming estate and the magnitude of our lives, but 
 only for a moment. The mist rolls away, the light 
 changes its angle and bearing and the vision is gone. 
 We come down from the mount and tell what we have seen 
 as a matter of curiosity. Rather let us take hold of 
 such glimpses, that we may go back to the strifes of this 
 world with a stronger and more abiding faith in the 
 future."* 
 
 Yes, our life is a vapor, but there are possibilities with- 
 in it of which we never yet have dreamed. Browning 
 has truly sung, 
 
 " Man is not man as yet." 
 
 A glimpse of his fuller stature, indeed, comes to him 
 through the mists of these swiftly-passing years. Only 
 a glimpse — and that enlarged vision of what he may be 
 falls far below the stature of his perfect life. Yet surely 
 there is enough of it to stimulate him into earnest- 
 ness, into eagerness of preparation for the destiny which 
 may await him. Yes, our life is a vapor! It vanishes 
 swiftly away, but there is enough time in which to pre- 
 pare for the inevitable meeting with God, and for the life 
 of immortality. There is time enough, but there is not 
 
 * Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
32 THE GOSPEL IX NATURE. 
 
 a moment too much ! Hasten therefore to be wise, and, 
 before this vapor life has vanished, turn in living faith 
 and obedience to Him who waits to save you. 
 
 II. In the second place, the mist teaches us that our 
 brief life should be a life of blessing. 
 
 In the opening pages of the book of Genesis (Genesis 
 ii. 5-6) we have a glimpse of the ancient Paradisej the 
 Eden home of man : "For the Lord God had not caused 
 it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till 
 the ground, but there went up a mist from the earth and 
 watered the whole face of the ground." In that era, 
 therefore, as this passage reads, the mist was the great 
 nutritive force of nature. It may be still said of mist 
 that it serves the purpose of watering the face of the 
 earth, for as you have already seen, if rain or dew be 
 traced back to their origin in the atmosphere, they will 
 be found in the form of vapor. Thus the fertilizing 
 showers, without which earth would grow hard and 
 chapped, and the fruits of the forest and field would be 
 withered, may be said to be due to the same natural ele- 
 ment that of old made Paradise for man. 
 
 What is your life? It is a vapor. Stop! is it indeed 
 a vapor in this benevolent phase of the figure of our 
 text? It appeareth for a little while, but does it leave 
 behind it a blessing? Life is brief, but it may be a 
 benediction. The one fact cannot be hindered; the 
 other is possible to every living soul. What is thechief 
 end of man ? Man's chief end is to glorify God. Rut 
 how shall one glorify God in this life? I know no other 
 way than by purifying the fountains of one's life into 
 holy living, and causing the issuing streams to go forth 
 to gladden the children of men. 
 
 To my thinking, God is best glorified by an honest 
 Ivor on the part of every man to bring and keep a 
 blessing within the world. If indeed it be impossible 
 thus to restore our world to the state of the primitive 
 Eden.it is not impossible so to water the face of the 
 earth by gracious living, by kind and noble deeds, by 
 true and lofty aims, that this earthly home of man shall 
 be brought as near to Paradise as may be in this mortal 
 
MIST, OR I' A FOR OF WATER. 
 
 33 
 
 estate, and shall be made the high vantage ground from 
 which man himself shall step at last into the Paradise of 
 God. This is the purpose that ennobles, enriches, and 
 glorifies a human life : to water the face of earth with the 
 graces and gifts of true Christian living. Shall we not 
 join together this hour in high consecration of the future 
 of our lives, whether they be long or short, to such a worthy 
 end? Live for God. Live for the human race. Live 
 for that loftier selfhood which is within the grasp of all. 
 Thus shall earth be better, and heaven be made sure. 
 
 Alas! how sadly in contrast with such a purpose are 
 many of the lives that are everywhere lived around us ! 
 There is a stream in Yosemite valley that plunges from 
 the high upland over the brink of the precipice, dashes 
 downward beyond the front of the rocky wall, keeping 
 for a space the form of water, but broken more and more 
 as it falls, until at last through velocity and friction of 
 the atmosphere, the whole descending volume of the 
 stream is dispersed into mist that hangs for a little space 
 around the ragged terminus of the cascade, and then 
 slowly ascends towards the sky until it disappears within 
 the air as invisible vapor. That waterfall is called "The 
 Bridal Veil." It seems to me an emblem of too many 
 lives that start upon the ventures of young manhood 
 and young womanhood with high purposes and noble 
 resolve, with all the force of youth's rush and vigor 
 urging them forward, but after a brief career are dispersed 
 into the mists of aimless living, and fade away into the 
 life-ways surrounding them, purposeless and useless. 
 
 Is your life in this sense but a vapor ? Is it to end in 
 empty mist ? Shall its effects be invisible to the hearts 
 and lives of those who surround you ? This great world is 
 as a valley of Yosemite. Your young life rushes towards 
 it. May God grant that instead of being frittered away 
 and lost in aimlessness of living, you may find your place 
 somewhere in the garden to water it, brighten it, and fruc- 
 tify it for those who live with you and come after you! 
 
 Let us change our figure once more. Mists when 
 they gather above the seas are known as fogs. Produced 
 as I have already explained, they hang above the surface 
 of the water when the winds are calm, a perpetual 
 
34 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 clement of danger to vessels passing up and down the 
 highways of commerce. How often have you heard of 
 collisions in the fog ? I low man}- a brave ship has gone 
 clown underneath the stroke of some sharp hull that was 
 being pushed by careless hand or mercenary and cruel 
 heart through the heavy mists ! How many a little craft 
 has been ruthlessly brushed from the surface of the 
 waves to sink, unknown and uncared-for, with its humble 
 crew to the depths of the great sea, because of criminal 
 thoughtlessness for human life! 
 
 Fi iends, are there any amongst us who are thus daily 
 running against the human lives that they meet, crushing 
 their temporal interests, blighting their worldly hopes, 
 ruining forever their immortal prospects? What mists 
 are these that thus can make a might}- spirit a very 
 pirate upon the high seas of life ? Greed for gold, lust 
 after power, the pride of wealth and station. I need not 
 name more. These are the sins that befog many of the 
 noblest minds, and send them forth among their fellows 
 with all their vigor and possessions desecrated to the sad 
 work of wreckage and destruction. Oh for a breath of 
 God to blow these mists away from us and all ours! Oh 
 for the clearer light that comes from the throne of the 
 merciful Saviour, to break through these fogs of sinful 
 selfishness and teach men that power is not meant to 
 break, and burden, and curse, and destroy, and shatter 
 the weak vessels of humanity, but to save and bless and 
 fill with hope and happiness even the frailest and feeblest 
 of our kind. Remember the words of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my 
 brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me." And 
 again, " Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these 
 least, ye did it not unto m 
 
 III. Our third lesson comes to us from (he obedience 
 of the mist to the will and law of the Creator. 
 
 This fact evidently deeply impressed the minds of the 
 ancient prophets, who were close observers of atmos- 
 pheric phenomena, and drew many lessons therefrom. 
 
 *Mutt. xxv. 40-45, K. V. 
 
MIST, OR VAPOR OF WATER. 35 
 
 Thus the Psalmist writes : " Praise the Lord from the 
 earth, ye dragons and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and 
 vapor, stormy wind fulfilling his word."* Again : " He 
 causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the 
 earth. "f The book of Job, the most ancient of the 
 books of Scripture, contains the same allusion : " For he 
 maketh small the drops of water; they pour down rain 
 according to the vapor thereof"! This last is a repe- 
 tition of our thought, with a fine evidence that the rela- 
 tion between rain and vapor was not unknown in that 
 distant day. I will not dwell upon this point, to which 
 I alluded in the sermon of last Sabbath upon " God as 
 Force," but it is well to follow the spirit and letter of 
 the ancient prophets, and hold up the obedience of the 
 material world to the imitation of man. If there is no 
 other way by which you may be persuaded, oh, reason- 
 crowned men, be s/iamcd into your duty by the obedience 
 to divine law which is enstamped everywhere upon the 
 creatures of inanimate nature. From the sun we expect 
 sunshine, because the purpose of its being is to shine. 
 From cloud, rain, and dew, from vapor of water, from 
 mist we expect, always expect, expect without deviation, 
 qualification, or delay, most implicit discharge of the 
 functions which the Almighty Creator has imposed upon 
 them. They never fail the hand that made them. They 
 never go counter to the will whose force set them origi- 
 nally in play. They go forth upon their mission, in the 
 impressive imagery of the Psalmist, fulfilling the word of 
 God. That obedience is necessary. I can scarcely call it 
 noble, for " noble " is a term that belongs to a creature of 
 reason, of thought, of voluntary action ; it belongs to man, 
 and obedience in man is noble. There is no nobler trait. 
 
 " Great may he be who can command 
 And rule with just and tender sway ; 
 Yet is diviner wisdom taught 
 Better by him who can obey." \ 
 
 IV. Our last lesson comes from the use of mist as a 
 symbol of judgment upon the wicked. 
 
 * Psalms cxlviii. 7, S. f Psalms cxxxv. 7. % Job xxxvi. 27, 28. 
 \ Poems of Adelaide Proctor, "Maximus." 
 
36 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Elymas, the sorcerer at Paphos in Cyprus, withstood 
 the apostles, and sought to turn away the distinguished 
 inquirer Sergius Paulus from the faith. The aj 
 
 Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, invoked divine judg- 
 ment upon that enemy of" righteousness because he per- 
 verted the rightways of the Lord," And immediately," we 
 
 read, "there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he 
 went about seeking some to lead him by the hand." 
 The wicked men whose sinful courses are set in array 
 by St. Peter in his second epistle are described as 
 "clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the 
 mist of darkness is reserved forever." f 
 
 In the one case the judgment appears to have been 
 a physical, in the other a spiritual one. I do not know 
 what may have been involved in the latter. Who can 
 say? Who would presume or wish to say? For on 
 a subject such as this, one must feel that it is b 
 always that the Almighty Judge should speak for Him- 
 self. This much at least we may discern, that the 
 figurative expression "mist" is an apt symbol of that 
 soul out of whose horizon the virion of the Sun of 
 Righteousness with healing in his wings has been per- 
 mitted to drop away. If it be but a momentary mist — " a 
 vapor that appeareth for a little while" — even thus it is 
 sail enough ; for a life without the presence of Christ to 
 brighten and bless it must be a hopeless one. 
 
 Too many men of high intellectual endowments, upon 
 whom the world has laid honors, have U'und it in their 
 hearts to raise before the eyes of their fellows, and 
 becloud their spiritual future with, the mists of un- 
 belief. In the name of science the>- have obscured the 
 throne on which that Sovereign sits whose power up- 
 holds the order and laws to uncover which is the 
 function of science. They have shut from view the 
 ocean of eternity by the mists of doubt which they have 
 d before it. Such men sail n<> longer upon life's 
 voyage, and outward into the illimitable future under the 
 full sunlight of hope and joyous confidence of a h 
 immortality, but wander hopeless over uncertain path-, 
 
 ♦Acts xiii. ii. t II- Peterii. 17. 
 
MIST, OR VAPOR OF WATER. 37 
 
 surrounded by fogs which make all chart and compass 
 useless for the unhappy voyager. Who can take his 
 latitude on this wide sea of life when for him there is no 
 longer glimpse of sun or star of night ? 
 
 In a recent magazine article the distinguished Ameri- 
 can poet, James Russel Lowell, has written a poem with 
 such a thought as this in view. He thus represents the 
 condition of one groping in the mists : — 
 
 "Men feel old systems cracking under 'em ; 
 Life saddens to a mere conundrum 
 Which once religion solved, but she 
 Has lost — has science found ? — the key." 
 
 Of those who use their scientific discoveries to pro- 
 mote guesses and hypotheses destructive of Christian 
 faith, he thus writes : — 
 
 "They make things admirably plain, 
 But one hard question will remain : 
 If one hypothesis you lose, 
 Another in its place you choose ; 
 But your faith gone, O man and brother, 
 Whose shop will furnish you another — 
 One that will wash, I mean, and wear, 
 And wrap us warmly from despair? " 
 
 In view of the whole field, which he is as well able to 
 cover with his thought as any living man, he brushes 
 away with his master pen those mists that have darkened 
 and depressed the faith of so many, and pointing forward 
 along the path into which the full sunlight of God pours 
 joyfully, he thus signifies, as he sings, his purpose to 
 hold fast to the old dear faith of childhood : — 
 
 " I might as well 
 Obey the meeting-house's bell, 
 And listen while Old Hundred pours 
 Forth through the summer-opened doors, 
 From old and young. I hear it yet, 
 Swelled by bass-viol and clarinet, 
 While the gray minister, with face 
 Radiant, let loose his noble bass. 
 If heaven it reached not, yet its roll 
 Waked all the echoes of the soul, 
 And on it many a life found wings, 
 To soar away from sordid things."* 
 
 *James Russel Lowell — " Credidimus Jovem Regnare," 
 Atlantic Monthly, February, 1SS7. 
 
38 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 This, as it seems to me, is a wise decision. The rejec- 
 tion of Christ, the doubt of unbelief, is amist of darkness 
 which can only deepen the misery of man's estate. It 
 brings to him in this life restlessness, hopelessness, and 
 despair. 
 
 Let us devoutly hope that upon none of us shall this 
 mist of darkness settle in the coming eternity. Is there 
 one spirit here obscured by such a mist ? Ah! brother 
 and friend, let me invoke for you to-day the spirit of the 
 living God. Let me beseech you to raise for yourself 
 the prayer, Come, oh north wind, blow, oh south wind ; 
 dispel this mist of worldliness and unbelief, and show to 
 me the blue heavens with a God of love and redemption 
 regnant upon and beyond it, mighty and willing to 
 save. 
 
 We often hear, perhaps too often, of men of science 
 who have lost their faith in Christ, and forget the great 
 number of rank and file who keep the faith and possess 
 their souls in quietness and peace. Ten thousand ships 
 sail the great seas safely and come and go unnoticed on 
 their useful ways. But one goes down in the tempest or 
 comes into port storm-bruised and broken by the waves, 
 sails shivered, masts shattered, yards and cordage 
 snapped, helm disabled and binnacle swept away, and 
 lo, the whole world knows her name and her disaster! 
 You read of one naturalist making shipwreck' of the 
 faith ; do not conclude that all men of science. have met 
 a like misfortune. I doubt whether in proportion to 
 their number such gentlemen are more liable to such 
 disaster than those of other professions and vocations. 
 However that may be, let me speak of one who a (cw 
 years ago passed from among men — Prof. James Clerk 
 Maxwell. Me was one of the most astute minds of 
 Great Britain. 1 lis massive intellect and great attain- 
 ments in physical science and mathematics were ac- 
 knowledged by the entire world of science. He was a 
 firm and devoted follower of Jesus. Of him his biogra- 
 pher wr< tte : — 
 
 " I lis faith in the grand cardinal verities was firm, 
 simple, and lull ; and he avowed it humbly but unhesi- 
 tatingly, with the deepest gratitude for the revelation of 
 
MIST, OR VAPOR OF WATER. 39 
 
 the truth in Jesus. I do not think he had any doubts or 
 difficulties to cloud his mind or shake his peace."* 
 
 Let such a light shine this day as a beacon, a light- 
 house to any who are in the mists of unbelief. 
 
 " Heroic saint ! bright sufferer ! thou dost lend 
 To science a new glory. Midst the press 
 Of boasters, all thy meek-eyed fame confess, 
 And worldlings thine unworldliness commend. 
 
 Shine on, pure spirit ! though we see thee not, 
 Even in thy passage thou hast purged away 
 
 The fogs of earth-born doubt and sense-bound thought 
 From hearts that followed thine all-piercing ray. 
 
 And while thou soarest far from human view, 
 
 Even thy faint image shall our strength renew." f 
 
 2. It is sometimes the case in the Christian's ex- 
 perience that there comes a glimpse of the horror of 
 this mist of darkness in the form of spiritual fears and 
 doubts. These do not cover the fundamental points of 
 faith, the being of God, the fact of immortality, the 
 certainty of Christ's life and redemption, but simply 
 obscure the individual's hope as to his own interest in 
 these great facts. Am I saved ? Do I truly believe 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 
 Have you ever walked in the early morning or late 
 at night over some familiar path covered with fogs and 
 wondered how strange all things looked ? From yon 
 Delaware, flowing before the gates of our great city, 
 I have often seen in the autumn the mist rolling out, 
 hiding for a time the lovely landscapes of our suburban 
 regions. When venturing sometimes to walk abroad 
 through these mists, or driving from my summer lodg- 
 ing toward my city home, I have noted how hard it is 
 to tell the features of the scenery. They are distorted 
 as seen through the mist. They are obscured by the 
 mist. The familiar landmarks are blotted out. Even 
 the well-known pathway to home, where dearest friends 
 await with welcome, seems strange and unknown to the 
 eye, or is wholly hidden from sight. Yet, well did I 
 
 * Life of James Clerk Maxwell : McMillan & Co., London. Page 
 414. f From the sonnet printed on a fly-leaf of Prof. Maxwell's 
 Biography. 
 
40 THE GOSPEL IX NA Tl r RE. 
 
 know that friends and home, and blue heaven, and the 
 light of God were all there beyond the mists, and that 
 by and by it would thus appear to me. 
 
 Oh doubting Christian, " take it on faith a little while ; 
 soon shall you read his promise right in the full sun- 
 light of his .smile." Christ remains in spite of your 
 doubts. Not one promise of his has been blotted out, 
 although you may not be able to read it while that 
 strange mist is on your eyes. Heaven and God all 
 remain, always remain, and they all are yours. 
 
 I was driving once with a company of college friends 
 along the valley of Chartiers creek in Western Pennsyl- 
 vania. It was a foggy morning. We moved through 
 the valley, for the road threaded the course of the 
 stream. We wrapped our coats around us and shivered 
 in the morning chills. Soon our path led away from 
 the valley and stream up a sloping hillside. Higher 
 still we mounted, up, still up, until suddenly we emerged 
 from the mist into full sunlight. All around us and 
 above us lay fields, hillsides, and forests beautiful in the 
 rays ofheavenls luminary that poured his morning glory 
 on the scene. Below us, covering all the valley, lay the 
 mist, rising here and sinking there, looking like a toss- 
 ipof sea. We had escaped all that. We were out 
 of the f'y^. We had come out, simply by coming up. 
 
 Christian doubter, this parable is for you. Mists love 
 the lowlands. Forsake the lowlands of that life of un- 
 belief in which you are living. Go higher! still higher! 
 on wings of faith mount nearer to the throne, nearer to 
 that hill whose healing cross is the central point of hu- 
 man hopes. As you draw near in reverent trust, there 
 shall fall for you the light that, if it do not d: 
 mists in this weary and wicked world of ours, shall at 
 lift your spirit out of them, and give you that sun- 
 shine which God appoints for his own. Go upward! 
 i the higher life of holiness and faith! N 
 
 n — upon heights of faith men shall find brightness 
 and joy for their souls. 
 
 " Nearer, my < »od, t>> Thee, 
 Nearer to Th< 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 The Dew: 
 God's Silent Blessings. 
 
 "/ will be as the deiv unto Israel." — Kosea xiv. 5. 
 
THE DEW— GOD'S SILENT BLESSINGS. 
 
 When the cover is lifted from a vegetable dish on the 
 dinner table the inside is often found covered with dew. 
 Whence has it come ? The steam or vapor of water arising 
 from the contents of the dish comes in contact with the cold 
 cover, is condensed, and forms upon the inside as minute 
 beads of moisture. An ice pitcher on a summer's day is 
 often found covered with particles of dew which extend 
 usually no further than the limits of the water inside. 
 The explanation of this dew upon the pitcher is the same 
 as that of the dew upon the inside of the dish cover, and 
 is very simple. The layer of air in contact with the cold 
 vessel is cooled rapidly, is condensed in the cooling, and 
 its excess of moisture being thus squeezed out or pre- 
 cipitated, settles in minute drops upon the surface of the 
 pitcher. 
 
 These familiar facts afford good illustrations of the 
 cause of dew. It is simply the invisible vapor of the air 
 condensed by contact with the surface of the earth, which 
 becomes rapidly cool on clear and calm nights. During 
 night in summer the temperature falls continually from 
 the effects of terrestrial radiation, till the earliest dawn ; 
 when the daily rise in temperature sets in, owing to the 
 heat reflected to the upper strata of the atmosphere 
 which have begun to be heated and lighted up by the 
 rays of the morning sun. As the cooling by terrestrial 
 radiation continues, the temperature of objects on the 
 surface is gradually lowered to the dew point, and when 
 this point is reached the aqueous vapor begins to be con- 
 densed in dew upon their surfaces. The quantity depos- 
 ited is in proportion to the degree of cold produced and 
 the quantity of vapor in the air.* 
 
 * Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 16, art. Meteorology. 
 
 (43) 
 
44 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 But, it will be asked, what cools the earth so suddenly 
 after the setting of the sun? This perhaps is not so 
 evident as the cause of the coldness of our ice pitcher. 
 The answer to this question requires us to know that the 
 earth is moving with immense rapidity through a space 
 whose temperature has been estimated at least two hun- 
 dred and seventy (-70° degrees) below zero of Fahren- 
 heit's thermometer. Thus, like a heated cannon-ball 
 hung in the middle of a cold room, it is continually giv- 
 ing out heat, or losing it by radiation. The dense at- 
 mosphere with which the earth is enveloped acts like a 
 blanket to protect it from this intense cold of space to a 
 certain extent. But still the constant loss of heat by ra- 
 diation is so great that were the sun's rays withheld for 
 a tew days the temperature of the surface land, even in 
 the tropics, would fall as low as it is at the poles during 
 the long nights of Arctic winter.* When, therefore, the 
 sun goes down radiation tow aids the cold regions of 
 space takes place not only from the surface of the globe 
 but also directly from the molecules of air and its aque- 
 ous vapor. But, as the radiation from the surface of the 
 earth is more rapid and greater than from the stratum of 
 atmosphere immediately surrounding it, it is obvious 
 that the same result must follow which occurs when the 
 ice pitcher is placed in the open room ; that is to say, 
 the moisture of the air near the surface is condensed and 
 precipitated in the form of dew. 
 
 The natural phenomenon of dew as known to us and 
 as above described w;is not unknown to the people of 
 Pale-tine. In winter during fine weather dew is there 
 ' 1 as in other countries by the cooling of the 
 surface of the ground on cloudless nights. But inasmuch 
 as winter is tin' one period of the year when much rain 
 falls in tropical torrents, ordinary dew, which chiefly 
 forms at such times, is comparatively speaking valueles 
 We must therefore look- for some other cause of that 
 peculiar mm\ inestimable blessin; n referred to by 
 
 the inspired penman under the figure of dew. 
 
 * Cooki -" Religion and Chemistry," ] ' Rev. Jambs 
 
 Neil— "Palestine Explored," ; 
 
THE DE W— COD'S SILENT BLESSINGS. 4 5 
 
 The nature of the difference between the dew of Holy 
 Scripture and dew as known to us will be considered in 
 the next discourse. At present we need only to under- 
 stand that the difference is not such as to destroy the 
 fitness of the lessons which we have to learn therefrom ; 
 for after all there is no better English word than " dew" 
 to describe the corresponding phenomenon as it exists 
 in Holy Land, although it has sometimes been called the 
 " Night Mist." 
 
 This phenomenon was a matter of constant observa- 
 tion by the people of Bible times and lands, as we may 
 readily see by turning to those texts which refer to the 
 subject. For the most part Scripture writers use the dew 
 as an emblem of divine blessing both spiritual and tem- 
 poral. Isaac in bestowing his blessing upon Jacob said, 
 " God give thee of the dew of heaven."* Moses when 
 addressing the people of Israel in his immortal song 
 invoked their attention on the ground that his "speech 
 shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender 
 herb."f Again, in the blessing which he bestowed upon 
 the children of Israel he gave to the tribe of Joseph 
 this benediction — " Blessed of the Lord be his land ; 
 for the precious things of heaven, for the dew."J 
 
 The patriarch Job, among other figurative descriptions 
 of his great blessedness in the days of his prosperity, 
 introduces this: 
 
 My root is spread out by the waters, 
 And the dew lies all night on my branch. 2 
 
 The wise proverbialist uses the same phenomenon as 
 a figure of royal favor: 
 
 The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion ; 
 But his favor is as dew upon the grass. j| 
 
 In David's touching lament over Saul and the beloved 
 Jonathan he utters an apostrophe describing the great- 
 ness of his grief and of the national loss by the fall of 
 two such leaders under the striking figure, " Ye moun- 
 tains of Gilboa, let there be no more dew ! "\ In all 
 
 * Genesis xxviii. 2S. f Deut. xxxii. 2. % Deut. xxxiii. 13. SJob 
 xxix. 19. || Prov. xix. 12. \ II. Samuel i. 21. 
 
46 THE GOSPEL IN NA Ti r RE. 
 
 these references it will be observed that dew is taken as 
 an emblem of a divine blessing either in temporal or 
 spiritual things. 
 
 1 dropping now the general symbol and entering some- 
 what into particulars, we shall see, first, that 
 
 I. The dew is a type of the Silent Blessings of God. 
 
 " I will be as the dew unto Israel," says Jehovah, de- 
 scending with spiritual graces not only, but coming silently 
 even as the dew falls upon the tender grass. It is not an 
 unfamiliar thought to us that God works no less mightily 
 because he w< >rks in silence. There hangs about the .Mo- 
 saic narrative of creation a composure almost as of uncon- 
 sciousness. The story of how the heavens and earth 
 were created, reduced to orderly form and all living 
 things brought upon the globe, is told in few words as 
 one would tell a nursery tale, or recite the commonest 
 incident of daily life. That spirit is a reflection of a 
 large part of Nature's daily mood. How silently the 
 forests grow ! How silently spring up grass, herbage, and 
 grain! We may walk on a summer day in the green 
 fields and, except now and then a crackling of luxurious 
 growing corn-stalks, we shall hear no sound to indicate 
 that Nature is producing those crops which shall weight 
 down our granaries, tax our means of railroad transpor- 
 tation, fill our great ships with their products, and feed 
 the nations of the earth. Seed for the sower and bread 
 for the eater, for all the millions of the hosts of men, are 
 wrought out in the laboratory of Nature with scarce a 
 sound of toil. 
 
 Go into the great forests of the Adirondacks and lie 
 down at night by your camp fire. A silence as of death 
 overhangs the scene. Now and then one may hear a 
 dropping of broken twig or leaf, the hum of an insect, 
 the listless movement of a bird upon its perch. I I 
 sionally the forest will be startled by the sudden sweep 
 and crash of some gigantic plant monarch as it falls 
 seemingly withoul i ind awakes thunderous echoes 
 
 on the silent night. The rising breeze, as it soughs and 
 moans through limbs ami leaves, will often break the 
 stillness. But beside these external signs of life there 
 
THE DEW— GOD'S SILENT BLESSINGS. 47 
 
 is no voice to speak to you of that great work which 
 Nature there is doing. And what is Nature doing? 
 She is lifting up a forest of unnumbered trees towards 
 the skies ; she is forming timber that shall build our 
 houses, span our rivers and streams with bridges, and 
 frame the great ships that go down to the seas with our 
 commence. Forest building is a silent work. Thus it 
 is through all the realm of Creation. 
 
 Nor is it different in the kingdom of God's grace. Our 
 Master compared the kingdom of heaven to the mus- 
 tard seed and to leaven hid in a measure of meal.* The 
 parable holds good in the matter of the silence with 
 which the germinating seed and the fermenting germ 
 accomplish their work. "The kingdom of God cometh 
 not with observation." f 
 
 This lesson was never more impressively taught than 
 to the prophet Elijah on Mount Horeb. " Go forth and 
 stand upon the mount before the Lord ! " | Thus spoke 
 the divine word. Elijah awaited the signal of God's ap- 
 pearance. His prophetic soul knew well to discern the 
 awful presence. He will not go forth from his cave 
 until God is verily there. Hark! There is a sound in 
 the mouth of the cavern. It is . the wind rising upon 
 the mountain. Higher, fiercer, until it roars down the 
 deep ravines that unite in front of Mount Sinai and howls 
 through the gorges, and whips the trees into those wail- 
 ing cries so familiar to mountaineers and foresters in the 
 stormy season. The trees are uprooted and hurled 
 down the cliff, dragging with them great quantities of 
 soil. The landslide rushes into the plain with a crash 
 like thunder. Thus perhaps it is that we are to under- 
 stand the passage, " The wind rent the mountain and 
 brake in pieces the rocks." It were a stout heart, in- 
 deed, that would not flinch if exposed in absolute soli- 
 tude to the fury of such a mountain storm. Yet the 
 only picture we form of the prophet is of one standing 
 in the dim light of his cave gazing outward, straining 
 every faculty to catch amidst the clamor of the tempest 
 an indication of the revealing presence of his God. 
 
 * Luke xiii. 19, 21. f Luke xvii. 20. % I. Kings xix. 11. 
 
48 77//; GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 There came none to him. " The Lord was not in the 
 wind ; and after the wind an earthquake ;" or, to take up 
 the peculiar but most expressive rendering of the Chal- 
 daic version, " After the host of the angels of the wind 
 there was a host of the angels of commotion, but the 
 majesty of the Lord was not in the host of the angels of 
 commotion; and after the host of the angels of commo- 
 tion, a fire, but the majesty of the Lord was not in the 
 host of the angels of fire; and after the ) ngels of 
 
 fire a voice singing in silence," that is, a voice with which 
 no other voice was mingled. It tilled the air and filled 
 Elijah's soul to the exclusion of all else. The tempest 
 had rolled away over the mountain. The rocking cliffs 
 were soothed into their usual stability. A calm as of 
 death had settled upon Iloreb, and through that calm 
 more .awful even than the crash of the troubled elements 
 stole that "still small voice," " a sound of gentle still- 
 ness," * " the whisper of a voice as of a gentle breath." t 
 The prophetic spirit discerned at once the presence of 
 his God. "And it was so when Elijah heard it that he 
 wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and st< 
 in the entering in of the cave." There with his h 
 reverently bowed within the folds of his rough sheepskin 
 cloak he awaited the revelation. "Ami behold there 
 came a voice unto him." 
 
 What is the significance of this " voice singing in si- 
 lence?" — this" whisper of avoice as of a gentle breath," — 
 this still small voice in which Jehovah chose to c im- 
 mune with his prophet? It is not hard to find the an- 
 swer. We have here uncovered the whole spirit of that 
 new dispensation which Elijah was to do SO much 
 prepare. The tire of Carmel, the storm of the Mediter- 
 ranean, the earthquake revolution by which the pri< 
 of Baal and the groves were slaughtered at a blow — all 
 that had not succeeded. Now was to begin the silent 
 rk of prayer and preaching. Conviction was to do 
 its noiseless office. The seven thousand who had not 
 bowed the knee to Baal were to be as a leaven silently 
 working among the nation. Elijah was to go thence to 
 
 ; tuagint version. 
 
THE DEW— COD'S SILENT BLESSINGS. 49 
 
 anoint the mild, persuasive Elisha as prophet in his own 
 room, and then the work was to go on quietly, steadily, 
 and hopefully as before. The still small voice should 
 prevail. The prophet was to "learn to labor and to 
 wait;" to be patient, and trust to the silent, steady influ- 
 ence of honest duty and slow growing conviction to do 
 the work of God in men's hearts. 
 
 The truth should prevail over all. More triumphant 
 and effective than the maledictions of Elijah, the sword 
 of. Hazael and the sword of Jehu, would be the sword of 
 the Spirit, the Word of God. To quote the noble language 
 of Dean Stanley, " Not in the strong east wind that parted 
 the Red Sea, or the fire that swept the top of Sinai, or 
 the earthquake that shook down the walls of Jericho, 
 would God be brought so near to man, as in the still 
 small voice of the child at Bethlehem, as in the minis- 
 trations of him whose cry was not heard in the streets, 
 in the awful stillness of the cross, in the never-failing 
 order of Providence, in the silent, insensible influence of 
 good deeds and good words, of God and of man." * 
 
 This mode of divine working is profoundly effective. 
 There is something strangely impressive in perfect si- 
 lence. The silence of night overhanging the business 
 portions of a great city ; the silence of Nature in her deep 
 solitudes; the silence that sits upon ocean and earth in 
 the moments just before a storm ; the hush of men when 
 their souls are filled with great passions, and pause on 
 the eve of some momentous event ; the hush which marks 
 the coming of the Holy Ghost in a revival of religion — 
 all these mightily subdue and impress us. The animal 
 speaks out in noise and shout ; the spirit in the solemn 
 stillness of the soul. A church fallen into silence after a 
 congregation has retired, often seems even more like the 
 house of God than when filled with the sounding praises 
 of the people. I love to glide into the sanctuary when 
 thus empty of service and worshipers, and lift my heart 
 in voiceless prayer. At such moments one can sympa- 
 thize with the ideas of worship prevailing among the 
 Society of Friends. 
 
 *Dean Stanley— " History Jewish Church," vol. II., p. 343- 
 
50 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 The descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus has been 
 compared to the descent of a dove.* Have you ever 
 seen a turtle-dove or wood-pigeon alight in the open 
 fields ? There is a scarcely audible flutter of wings as it 
 falls. It drops down from the air and settles upon the 
 ground or neighboring tree so silently that you are 
 startled by its presence ere you had thought it near. In 
 this respect, if in no other, it is a fitting symbol of that 
 divine Spirit who so often speaks to the children of men 
 in the still small voice. 
 
 These reflections should give us hope and confidence 
 in the final success of the truth and kingdom of God. 
 Man's heart is a tough and stubborn piece of mechanism. 
 Nevertheless it is susceptible to the influences of gentle- 
 ness, persistently and lovingly laid upon him, and by 
 these influences God is constantly working. We may 
 not hear the moving wings of the Holy Dove as he 
 alights among us. We may not mark his. coming, or 
 " the hiding of his power."f His way may be in the sea, 
 his paths in the great waters, and his footsteps not known,]; 
 yet nevertheless let us believe that he will accomplish 
 his purpose, and win at last the world to himself. 
 
 The Sabbath ! How easily does our theme glide into 
 thoughts of the holy quiet of the divine day of rest! It 
 is the time when above all others God appears as " the 
 dew unto Israel;" when his heavenly speech "distills 
 as the dew" upon our spirits, when our Divine King's 
 "favor is as dew upon the grass" to our needy and seek- 
 ing souls. Then indeed do our lips take up the an- 
 cient benediction of Jacob and say, " Blessed be the Lord 
 for the precious things of heaven, for the i\c\v !" 
 
 With silent awe I hail the sacred morn, 
 
 That slowly wakes while all the fields are still ! 
 A soothing calm on every breeze is borne ; 
 
 A graver murmur gurgles from the rill ; 
 
 And echo answers softer from the hill ; 
 And softer sin^s the linnet from the thorn ; 
 
 The skylark warbles in a tone less shrill. 
 Hail ! Light serene ! 1 Iail ! Sacred Sabbath morn ! 
 
 The rooks float silent by in airy drove ; 
 The sun a placid yellow lustre throws ; 
 
 *Matt. iii. 16. fHabakkuk hi. 4. t Psalm lxxvii. 19. 
 
THE DEW— GOD'S SILENT BLESSINGS. 5 I 
 
 The gales that lately sighed along the grove 
 Have hushed their downy wings in dead repose ; 
 
 The hovering rack of clouds forgets to move — 
 So smiled the day when the first morn arose. * 
 
 II. The timeliness of the divine blessings is another 
 lesson taught us by the dew. 
 
 There are lands that do not know the nurturing in- 
 fluences of the rains of heaven, but yet are fertile by 
 reason of the dews that continually descend upon them. 
 Even in lands favored with regular showers as was the 
 case with Palestine, the dew had a large and helpful 
 influence in equalizing the harvests year by year by 
 neutralizing the results of drought. The principal sea- 
 sons when a provision of the nature of dew is needed in 
 the Holy Land, and when it is so abundantly given, are 
 summer and autumn. Then six consecutive months of 
 drought occur regularly, even under the most favorable 
 circumstances. From about the first week in May to the 
 middle of October, in the usual course, no drop of rain 
 falls, and throughout the twelve hours of each day the 
 sun shines with great strength, unveiled by a single 
 cloud. In the autumn the thermometer has been known 
 to register 118 Fahrenheit in the shade of the hot 
 plains. t In other words, the dew comes in just where 
 and when it is most needed, adding greatly to its bene- 
 fits by the timeliness of its coming. 
 
 I am glad to believe that this is in accordance with 
 the modes of Divine working amongst the children of 
 men. The souls who most need the Master's tender care 
 are those whom He most seeks to bless. The moments 
 of our life which are most barren of ordinary joys and 
 blessings, are those moments in which we may most 
 securely depend upon the answering help of our Al- 
 mighty Father. When the heart is parched by drought 
 and scorched by the sun; when the rain-laden clouds 
 refuse to gather or gather only to deceive our hopes ; 
 when the showers fall not and we lie barren of hope and 
 joy before God, then — even then, yes, especially then will 
 
 *John Leyden. f Rev. James Neil — "Palestine Explored," 
 ch. V., pp. 133-4- 
 
52 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 He come to us if we truly seek Him. God does not 
 
 seek us because we are saints, but to make us saints ; He 
 does not visit us because our hearts are full, but in order 
 to fill them. Human sorrow is small attraction to men, 
 but is the lodestone that draws to us the Spirit of God. 
 One of the sweetest sacred lyrics of an Irish bard has 
 hymned this thought: 
 
 O thou who driest the mourner's tear, 
 
 How dark this world would be, 
 If, pierci-d by sins and sorrows here. 
 
 We could not fly to thee ! 
 
 The friends, who in our sunshine live, 
 
 When winter comes, are flown ; 
 And he who has but tears to give, 
 
 Must weep those tears alone. 
 
 But thou wilt heal that broken heart, 
 
 Which, like the plants that throw 
 Their fragrance from the wounded part. 
 
 Breathes sweetness out of woe. 
 
 Then sorrow, touched by thee, grows bright. 
 
 With more than rapture's ray ; 
 As darkness shows us worlds of light, 
 
 We never saw by day. 
 
 Yes, there is a timeliness in the help of heaven which 
 Christian hearts have learned to count upon with the 
 utmost confidence. "As thy days so shall thy strength 
 be."f " My strength is made perfect in weakness."! 
 
 It seems tome that in this respect the religion of Jesus 
 Christ is surely like the dew in lands unwatered by the 
 rains of heaven. For most human souls destiny lies 
 between Religion or barrenness. There is nothing but 
 the heavenly gift of Faith that can cause a desert heart 
 to rejoice and a wilderness life to blossom as the rose. 
 If Christ come not and stay not with blessings in 
 this sinful and grief-stricken world, then indeed are we 
 hopeless. We scan in vain the wide horizon ot earthly 
 attainments, literature, science, mechanics, law, politics, 
 in search of fitting nurture for needy souls. Only 
 from those sacred treasures of grace out of which distills 
 the dew of a divine blessing can we hope for that 
 which shall make our hearts verdant with the hopes of 
 
 • Thomas Mooki:. t Deut. xxxiii. 25. J II. Cor. xii. 9. 
 
THE DEW— COD'S SILENT BLESSINGS. 5 3 
 
 immortality, joyful with the brightness of the Rose of 
 Sharon, fragrant with the sweetness of the Lily of the 
 valley, rich with the fruitage of a holy and helpful life. 
 
 Yes, yes ! only the heavens, the heavens of God can 
 drop down dew upon the heart-wastes and desolations 
 of this world. Oh! I would despair, utterly despair of 
 finding solace and strength for the multitude of hearts 
 whom I know to be daily walking through this vale of 
 tears in utmost bitterness of spirit, were not Christ in 
 view ! Every week, sometimes every day it is my duty 
 to share the burden of others' sorrows. I stand by 
 shattered urns which had been the repository of hopes, 
 plans, and loves of men who bow mourning above the 
 ruins. A merchant stands dazed amidst the wreck of 
 his once colossal fortunes. A poor laborer stands in 
 the market place all the day idle, sighing " no man 
 hath hired me," although wife and weans in hunger and 
 want await his coming home. Helpless women look 
 upon their helpless children, and watch the meal in the 
 barrel daily lessening like that of the widow of Sarepta, 
 and wonder when their unwise husbands will turn from 
 "the strike" dictated too often by selfish agitators, to 
 give back hands of ready toil to work that will bring 
 daily bread and fuel. 
 
 A young husband bends at the bier of his youthful wife 
 whom he must bury to-morrow out of his sight, mourn- 
 ing that love's young dream has so quickly vanished 
 away, and that all his cherished hopes are as the morn- 
 ing cloud. An old man sits in his arm-chair, leans upon 
 his staff and gazes at the vacant places by his hearth- 
 stone, while memory recalls the forms of loved ones who 
 once peopled that sacred spot. There was the wife of 
 his youth, and merry-hearted children were there who 
 cheered his days with prattle, laughter, and song. Alas! 
 they all "have been scattered like roses in bloom, some 
 at the bridal and some at the tomb." Then, there are 
 other sorrows, " living sorrows " we call them, which 
 we may not mention here, but are borne wearily and 
 almost despairingly by souls that faint beneath them, or 
 stagger on through life dumbly enduring the destiny 
 which seems beyond reach of hopeful cure. 
 
54 THE COS TEL IN NATURE. 
 
 What is there for souls like these? Is there indeed 
 neither comfort nor cure ? There is nothing purely of 
 earth — absolutely nothing! What then? Then, there 
 are Faith and Hope and Heaven ! Faith in God, assu- 
 rance <>f the comfort which Heaven bestows, strength 
 that distills like the dew into men's spirits day by day, 
 the hope that beyond this troubled career there shall 
 open fir them the dawn of Heaven — these abide with 
 men because their nature and needs require them. 
 
 .Man's heart also belongs to Nature, and all Nature in 
 man rises in revolt, and cries out in abhorrence against 
 those who would blot from the heavens of God the stars 
 of human hope that light up for us the night of tears, and 
 point to that world beyond where night and sorrow, pain 
 and parting are known no more, and "joy cometh in 
 the morning." The infidel, even though he dare speak in 
 the name of Nature, nevertheless denies Nature, tramples 
 Nature underfoot, disregards its laws and all its voices; 
 for Nature in the heart of man cries out with quenchless 
 eagerness for God and immortality! 
 
 The last utterance of the Poet Laureate of England in 
 his " New Locksley Hall," has some striking likenesses in 
 the general trend and tone of thought to the last song oi 
 the American bard which I quoted a Sundayag >. Ten- 
 nyson's conclusion is at one with Lowell's, and they 
 together point us to faith in God and Heaven. 
 
 Only That which made us, meant us to be mightier by ami by, 
 Set tin- sphere of all the boundless heavens within the human eye. 
 
 Sent the shadow of Himself, the Boundless, thro' the human soul. 
 Boundless inward, in the atom, boundless outward, in the Whole. 
 * * * * * * 
 
 Ere she gain her heavenly Inst, a < Jod must mingle with the game : 
 Nay, there may be those about us w hich we neither see nor name. 
 
 Pelt within us as ourselves, the powers of good, the powers of ill, 
 
 Strowing halm, or shedding poison in the fountains of the will. 
 
 Follow you the Star that lights a desert pathway, yours and mine 
 Forward, till you see the highest 1 luman Nature is I >ivine. 
 
 Follow Light, and do tin- Right— for man can half control his 
 
 doom — 
 
 Till you find the Deathless Angel seated in the vacant ton.' 
 
 •Lord Tennyson—" Locksley Hall Sixtj Years Aft< 
 
THE DEW— GOD'S SILENT BLESSINGS. 5 5 
 
 1. This is a lesson which Christians may profitably 
 learn in their relations to their fellows. You know the 
 old Latin proverb, "Bis dat qui cito dat" — He gives 
 twice who gives quickly. There is a strong tendency 
 among us to bestow our gifts upon those who give gifts 
 to us. We lay our social, friendly, and material offerings 
 upon laps that are already filled. Thus oftentimes our 
 gifts are wasted. They go to those who do not appreciate 
 them, who do not need them, whose hearts are filled to 
 surfeiting, and have little added gladness therefrom. I 
 do not mean that the opulent have no occasion for ex- 
 pressions of sympathy from their friends. Nay ! often- 
 times their hearts are empty and solitary amidst their 
 material abundance. A timely word of sympathy, a 
 note of condolence, a simple gift of flowers or books, 
 an appropriate poem, tractate, or sermon sent through 
 the mail, these or such-like things, even though of little 
 value in themselves, will carry to such lonely hearts a 
 blessing that silver and gold could not bestow, because 
 rich in the tenderness and sympathy with which they are 
 freighted. 
 
 But in those wider fields where men, women, and 
 children are called upon to bear- the burden and heat of 
 life's struggle, there is a special need that Christian 
 hearts should learn the lesson of timely helpfulness. It 
 is not every one indeed who possesses the delicate spirit 
 to discern and the gracious tact to meet the difficulties 
 of which we are thinking, but all can at least study 
 these, and always a warm and honest heart, a sympathy 
 pure and sincere, will fall upon such time and manner 
 as will best supply the barrenness of weary and em- 
 bittered lives by the distilled dews of Christian aid. 
 Happy is he who knows how and when, as well as what, 
 to give. 
 
 III. There is yet another lesson which Holy Scripture 
 brings to us under the form of dew, the Transient Char- 
 acter of much Human Goodness. 
 
 " Oh, Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee ? Oh Judah, 
 what shall I do unto thee, for your goodness is as a 
 morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away!" 
 
56 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 (Hosca vi. 4.) Of how man)- persons may this sad 
 complaint be spoken ? How many resolves made since 
 this new year was born to lead a better life, to prac- 
 tice goodness and shun evil, have already been dis- 
 pelled as dew by the morning sun? There is, per- 
 haps, this difference to be noticed — the dew vanished 
 and left a blessing. These broken resolves, do they leave 
 the heart any better? Rather, it is to be feared, the 
 heart is harder and the mind more perverted because of 
 these failures to fulfill VOWS. Alas! how sad it is that 
 the soul should once taste the sweetness of the heavenly 
 dew and then turn from it; that God should once be 
 seen and grasped and then permitted to vanish away 
 from life! Are there any here to whom Mich sadness 
 has come? Let me pray you turn again with prepared 
 and receptive heart unto Him who has graciously prom- 
 ised to heal your backslidings. I lis voice still calls, 
 " Return unto Me!" Still the Father waits to welcome 
 the home-coming prodigal. 
 
 Will you come to Him to-day? How long, how 
 much longerwill you wait? How manytimes haveyou 
 resolved to seek the blessedness of him whose sins are 
 forgiven, whose iniquities are pardoned ? How many half- 
 formed resolutions lie along the pathway of your reli- 
 gious experience? Rose-buds! How we love them, 
 for they speak to us of the future. They are beautiful 
 prophecies of immortality and resurrection, and there- 
 fore we lay them around the coffins of our dead. There 
 they speak to us through their beautiful symbolism ol a 
 life which here is all unfolden, only the budding forth ^\ 
 the life which shall be when unfolded into full form and 
 dness in Heaven. Rose-buds! The bride bears 
 them in her wedding bouquet as she goes to those joy- 
 ful vows which unite her in love with the man ol her 
 choice. Tluy are t<> her, and to all who surround her, 
 tokens of promise; prophecy of a life of happiness, 
 which from the budding joys of the marriage hour shall 
 untold from year to year into the fuller happin 
 long wedded life. Rose-buds! The maiden wears them 
 on her b< »s< mi at that interesting hi >ur 1 »f her lite' w hen she 
 is introduced by parents or friends to the social circles in 
 
THE DEW— GOD'S SILENT BLESSINGS. 57 
 
 which her life must move. Indeed, we call our maidens 
 " Rose-buds" in the season of their " coming out." A 
 not unfitting word, for it bespeaks the high hopes 
 of friends that the sweet life of the daughter of their 
 love, now but in the bud, shall fulfill the prophecy of 
 the beautiful symbol, and open out to the full fragrance 
 and beauty of a noble womanly life. 
 
 Rose-buds! Ah, but if the buds shall never bloom? 
 If they remain buds forever? If there come not to 
 them that fullness of life which we call the seed, within 
 whose germs lies the fulfillment of all plant prophecy ; 
 if the promise wrapped up within half-closed petals be 
 never fulfilled — what then? What then? 
 
 Such, my friends, are lives that promise and never ful- 
 fill. Lives that shed a momentary fragrance, that give a 
 passing glow of beauty, that add richness and' warmth 
 to cheeks that blush already with pleasure and health, that 
 cast a momentary glow upon the face of death, but noth- 
 ing more! Lives unopened, prophecy unfulfilled, wasted 
 lives! "Nothing but leaves!" Nurtureless dew-drops 
 on fruitless leaves that pass away unblessing and un- 
 blessed! 
 
 Oh! let not the half-formed resolutions of this hour 
 be set towards such a destiny! Rather, through the 
 grace of a divine Saviour waiting to help you and the 
 high purpose of your own will, may the buds of this 
 day's promise open from year to year more and more 
 until the light of heaven shall reveal their beauty, and 
 exhale their fragrance in the very Garden of the Lord. 
 There they shall bloom forever, sprinkled with the dia- 
 mond dew-drops of the Eternal Morning. 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 The Dew of Hermon. 
 
 "Behold, how good and liozv pleasant it is for 
 bretJiren to dwell together in unity! It is * * * 
 as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descend- 
 ed upon the mountains of Zion : for there the Lord 
 comma?ided the blessing, even life for evermore." — 
 Psalm cxxxiii. i, 3. 
 
THE DEW OF HERMON. 
 
 During summer in Palestine vegetation becomes much 
 parched in consequence of the continuous rainless heat, 
 and would be altogether scorched from the face of the earth 
 but for the following beautiful provision. At such time, 
 and more especially towards its close in the latter part 
 of August and during September and October, the pre- 
 valent westerly winds bring an immense quantity of 
 moisture from the Mediterranean Sea. The watery ele- 
 ment, with which the sea air is charged, becomes con- 
 densed when it meets the cold night air upon the land; 
 for in Syria the nights are often as cold as the days are 
 hot, a fact which Jacob lamented three thousand six hun- 
 dred years ago. This condensation, or cloud-forming, 
 happens more especially when the damp winds reach the 
 hills, over the surface of which their liberated moisture 
 rolls in masses of dense mist, which leave everywhere in 
 their progress an immense amount of that which answers 
 to the " dew" of the Bible. 
 
 Since the vapor becomes condensed in the air before 
 touching the ground, in the strict scientific sense of the 
 word it rather resembles the lightest form of Scotch 
 mist. But then it must be remembered that this mist in 
 Palestine never occurs in the daytime, but only forms 
 during the night, when by radiation the earth has thrown 
 off its heat, and the cool air above it condenses the moist- 
 ure borne by the breezes from the sea. From its coming 
 only during the hours of the night, from its not falling 
 like other rain from the upper air, from its separation 
 into very fine particles and not appearing to fall in drops, 
 from the general appearance it leaves behind, and from 
 its effect ceasing to be seen when the sun grows hot, it 
 was rightly held to differ so much from the nature of or- 
 dinary rain as to require to be distinguished by a special 
 
 (61) 
 
62 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 technical term, " tal" which, fortunately for the English 
 reader, our translators have uniformly rendered in each 
 instance by the word "dew.'' 
 
 Let it be borne in mind that whenever we read of the 
 "dew" in our Bible we must not understand such dew 
 as we have in this country, but this copious mist shed- 
 ding small, invisible rain, that comes in rich abundance 
 every night about twelve o'clock in the hot weather 
 when west or north-west winds blow, and which brings 
 intense refreshment to all organized life. Mr. Neil, to 
 whose admirable studies of Palestine I am largely in- 
 debted for these introductory facts, calls this phenom- 
 enon " night mist;" Dean Stanley speaks of it as the 
 " dews of the mist" 
 
 The peculiar features of this rich provision of nature, 
 by which it differs from and greatly excels any kind of 
 dew, and comes to be of such very great value, are 
 threefold. First, its falling only in the hottest and 
 driest season, when no other moisture is to be had. 
 ndly, its coming every night during this period 
 when west winds blow, which they do with great regu- 
 larity. Thirdly, its falling so copiously as to supp 
 the moisture needed for vegetation generally. The water 
 these low clouds depositf is perfectly sufficient to ripen 
 the summer crops, to keep life in the pastures of the 
 rt, to nourish the fig, fatten the berry of the olive, 
 and give to the grape its fullness of luscious juice — in a 
 word, to revive and sustain all hardv forms of vegetable 
 
 ' 
 
 I. The first lesson clothed within the imagery of dew 
 which we haw to consider to-day is the Duty and 1 
 edness of Brotherly Unit)-. 
 
 All readers of the Bible are familiar with the exquisite 
 n on fraternal love given to the church by the in- 
 spired Psalmist. (Ps. exxxiii.) 
 
 * "Sinai and Palestine," page 396. i Thus tin- seemingly un- 
 natural statement ol Prov. in. 20, that the < louds drop down dew," 
 i^. exactly in accord with nature. | Rxv. Jambs Nbil— " Palestine 
 Explored," 1 hapter V p . • s 138-9. 
 
THE DEW OF HER MO N. 63 
 
 " Behold how good and how pleasant it is 
 For brethren to dwell together in unity ! 
 
 Like the dew of Hermon, 
 That cometh down upon the mountains of Zion: 
 For there the Lord commanded the blessing, 
 Even life for evermore." 
 
 Read thus from the Revised version, the thought would 
 seem to be that just as the dews descending upon Hermon 
 are not limited in their refreshing power to the slopes 
 upon which they fall, so the refreshing influence of 
 brotherly love diffuses itself through the whole commu- 
 nity of Israel, from northern Hermon to the uttermost 
 mountains of Zion. The Authorized version reads a 
 little differently, and it appears to present a different 
 shade of thought: "As the dew of Hermon and as the 
 dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion " are 
 words which give the idea that the refreshing mists 
 which visit one section of the land visit all sections; a 
 statement of which we may at least say that it is entirely 
 in accord with Nature. The thought seems to be that 
 just as the sacred anointing oil poured forth upon the 
 high priest Aaron, alluded to in the preceding verse, 
 diffuses a like fragrance whether it be on head, beard, or 
 garment, so the dew is equally reviving and refreshing, 
 whether it fall on the heights of Hermon or the hills of 
 Zion. Thus, in the delighted vision of the Psalmist, 
 was it with Israel in the day of her perfect unity. One 
 spirit, one purpose, one faith, had fallen upon and filled 
 all hearts, whether coming from the extreme parts of 
 the land, far away to the north where Hermon lifts his 
 snowy head fast by the foot of Lebanon, or from those 
 sacred and more famous heights where the city of Zion 
 sits among her hills. Where such a spirit as this pre- 
 vails, there the Lord commands his blessing. 
 
 1. The imagery is true of the family. The happiness 
 of household life depends upon the unity of its mem- 
 bers, and it is equally true that its prosperity is closely 
 related to the same. There is no more attractive sight 
 than a family united in the bonds of a holy affection. 
 They are strong because theyare happy, happy because 
 
64 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 they arc united. In such a household the angel of love 
 is continually playing upon the heartstrings soft melo- 
 dies that float through the soul like voices of birds in 
 the morning. Their echoes roll out upon the wati 
 .strife like the Lord's commanded " Peace, be still!" on 
 Stormy Galilee. These are indeed songs in the night. 
 We may well pray God that the angel of domestic 
 may thus sing to us all and make us all such singers. 
 The children's hymn is very sweet and true: — 
 
 "There is beauty all around 
 When there's love at home ; 
 There is joy in every sound 
 
 When there's love at home." 
 
 2. In national relations we know how certain it is that 
 in unit;/ there is strength. All the blessings of national 
 life are scattered before the winds of discord ; but up* in a 
 united people prosperity and peace are sure to descend 
 even as dew upon the mountains from Hermon unto 
 Zion. Our own nation is known as the " United Si 
 
 or as it is more briefly expressed, the "Union." In the 
 very terms there is a teaching of the fact that our 
 national vigor and prosperity, our good name among 
 nations, nay, our very life depend upon the preservation 
 of those bonds by which the widely-separated sections of 
 the country are united into one nation — "Distinct like 
 the billows, yet one like the sea." 
 
 3. It is in the matter of religious and church life, how- 
 ever, that we need here most to consider the lesson which 
 the dew brings us. The prosperity ^f the Church of 
 Jesus Christ, its glory and beauty in the eyes of the 
 nations, must ever depend upon the spirit of brotherly 
 love which it maintains. It has often been a reproach to 
 the Church Universal <>r Catholic that it is divided into 
 many sections 6? u I In so for as this has any just 
 
 cause, it is our duty, and it ought to be our pleasure, to 
 
 labor to remove it. First, however, we require to know 
 what is the true ground of reproach in the premises. 
 The adversaries of the Church may have exaggerated 
 
 facts, and those who have not thought deeply enough 
 
THE DEW OF HER MO X. 65 
 
 upon the subject of church catholicity, may have misun- 
 derstood it. If we look beneath the surface of external 
 differences, we may often find substantial unity. May it 
 not be so with the Church? 
 
 He who will run his thoughts backward along the en- 
 tire history of the Church shall find a substantial concen- 
 sus of faith in the central truths of Christianity. It 
 would be possible to select from every branch of the 
 Church, to-day, a college of learned theologians who 
 would express unity of faith upon the fundamental doc- 
 trines of religion. The being of God; the existence of 
 God in the tri-personality of the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost; the doctrine of Providence; the immortality of 
 the soul ; the inspiration and Divine authority of Holy 
 Scripture; the life and ministry of Christ; his passion 
 upon the cross; his resurrection from the grave; his 
 ascension into heaven ; his intercession for his people 
 forever — these are truths upon which the Church has 
 always been, as it is to-day, substantially one. The 
 Apostles' Creed, so called, is accepted and uttered with 
 little change of form, and certainly with no essential 
 change of meaning, by all who to-day confess and call 
 themselves Christians. Here is unity, if there be not 
 uniformity. One type of doctrine fundamental to Chris- 
 tianity marks the Church catholic. 
 
 Undoubtedly there is a difference in the external forms 
 in which these fundamental truths are presented to the 
 world. But why should not the Church be permitted a 
 liberty which is everywhere manifest in nature? Varie- 
 ty is as certainly a character of the natural world as 
 unity. The dew is one, but I venture the doubt whether 
 any two kindred drops are moulded into exactly the 
 same shape and size. The tree is one, but there are no 
 two leaves upon the tree that are shaped precisely alike. 
 The fruit of the tree is one, but there are no two apples 
 hanging from the boughs that are modeled alike. You 
 cast your eye over a landscape, and your heart rejoices 
 in the harmony unfolded from the scene before you, yet 
 there is everywhere a difference in manifestation. In 
 the beauty and grace of the forms which you see, in the 
 spirit which insensibly reveals itself to you from wood 
 
66 THE Gt )SPEL IN \. 1 77 'RE. 
 
 and stream, lake, meadow, and mountain side, you feel the 
 sense of oneness. One Mind has evidently planned all 
 this. One 1 land, through whatever channels of physical 
 force, has manifestly moulded all this. Yet, when group 
 1>\ group and item by item, you turn your eye and 
 thought upon the objects of this landscape, you note how 
 wide the difference is between the one and the other. 
 
 May it not be thus also with the Church of the living 
 God? May not the blessing of Divine grace rest, and 
 the sweetness of brotherly unity abide equally upon the 
 hills of God's universal Zion, whether they tower from 
 tiic north in the peaks of Hermon, or roll away south- 
 ward to the mountains round about Jerusalem ? lam 
 n<-t justifying those differences in the external manifesta- 
 tions of Christ's Church which are set so sharp-edged, 
 ami reared so mountainous high that they divide be- 
 tween followers of Christ, and keep hearts separate that, 
 like kindred drops of dew, would fain melt into one and 
 fall together into the sacred heart of the Divine Ro 
 Sharon. lam simply pleading for justice and truth in 
 the face of assaults made upon the Church from the 
 standpoint of its divided ranks. I ask that the spirit of 
 agreement in fundamental truth should be regarded in 
 all such cases, as well as the differences in external form 
 and manifestation. 
 
 Not only is there unity in the fundamental theology 
 of the Church, but there is unity in its fundamental 
 Christian life. There is one type of Christian character 
 which would be accepted to-day in its substantial fea- 
 tures as the type which lies nearest the thought of 
 Christ. 
 
 Photography within a few years has presented to us 
 
 ilts gathered from what is known as 
 
 th<- Galton process. This consists briefly in taking a 
 
 group of faces, many or few, and causing them one 
 
 another to be presented befol li/.ed plate. The 
 
 time necessary to produce a perfect picture is divided 
 between the members of tin- whole gr«>up so that to each 
 one but a fraction of a minute maybe allowed. The 
 result is curious and instructive. I have here before 
 me a series of such composite photographs. One pre- 
 
THE DEW OF HER MO X. 6 J 
 
 sents the picture of sixteen naturalists.* The resulting 
 face is one which has caught the harmonious features of 
 each individual and rejected those which are not com- 
 mon. It is what may be called the typical face of all 
 these men of science. It is a strong, manly, thoughtful, 
 and well-seeming face. As one looks upon it he ob- 
 serves that it is not a close likeness of any one, yet car- 
 ries something of every one of the group, and thus he is 
 compelled to acknowledge that it is a well-defined and 
 typical countenance. 
 
 When I gazed upon that face for the first time, my 
 thoughts insensibly turned into the channel which they 
 are here pursuing. Is not this a parable of the Christian 
 life ? Is there not amidst all the varieties of Christian 
 men and women a common type? Would it not be 
 possible to take from this Church and that, from Latin, 
 Greek, Armenian, Protestant, and from all the represen- 
 tative denominations of Protestantism, individuals whose 
 common characteristics would present to us the typical 
 character of the man of God as he is in Christ Jesus ? I 
 believe that it is possible. I am sure that it is possible. 
 The " Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A'Kempis is a 
 book wrought out by a disciple of the Church of Rome, 
 but it has found its way into the hearts of the Universal 
 Church, and no man asks or thinks as he reads the de- 
 vout meditations of this godly character, to what branch 
 of the Christian Church did he belong? He belongs in 
 the widest sense to " the Holy Catholic Church." There, 
 indeed, in spite of whatever barriers, he always belonged 
 and always will be classed. His is a typical character, 
 one which is recognized without question in all ages by 
 all believers. 
 
 Again, look at the subject in the light of the Hym- 
 nology of the Church. There are indeed hymns through 
 whose refrains one may hear the discords of denomina- 
 tional shibboleths; but for the most part the hymns that 
 have fastened themselves upon the hearts of the devout 
 in any one branch of the Church are those hymns which 
 are loved and used by all who honor and love the name 
 
 *"Science," vol. V., No. nS, May 8th, 1SS5. 
 
68 THE G( ks /•/:/. /x x. i ri ki:. 
 
 of Christ. This is true because all genuine devotion bears 
 the common type of Christian character. In all agei the 
 
 truly devout arc one in sympathy, and therefore the forms 
 of praise which utter the devotions of one heart bear 
 alike to God the aspirations of another. The Calvinistic 
 Toplady, Watts and Bonar, the Arminian Wesleys, the 
 Anglican Ilcber and Ken, the Tractarian Keble, the 
 Romanist Faber, and all the goodly company of the sons 
 and daughters of Asaph when uttering the devotions of 
 their hearts speak in one tongue. There is something 
 divine in the flame of sacred poesy that burns out 
 therefrom the dross of sect. Pious tongues loathe the 
 flavor of isms in their holy songs. The hymns of the 
 most rigid denominations are rarely sectarian. There 
 is not a presbyter or priest in this whole hind, with due 
 tact and good faith, who could not conduct a mission or 
 service of song as chaplain of a company ql soldiers 
 made up of Protestants and Roman Catholics of all phases 
 of ecclesiastical opinions, without one discordant note and 
 with perfect approval and enjoyment of ail ! Thus it 
 has come that as we open our own 1 lymnal, and it is true 
 of every other Church, we find their sacred songs jost- 
 ling one another upon the same page. Jostling, did I 
 say? Nay, I recall the phrase and rather say, lovingly 
 facing and embracing one another; their thoughts 
 equally borne up to God upon the wings of Christian 
 devotion as the expression of that type of Christian 
 character which represents now as in all ages the broth- 
 erly unityof believers. 
 
 ! the dew is one, whether it descend upon the 
 mountains Of Hermon or the hills ofZion, and through 
 
 1 o >mmandeth his blessing, even life for e\ er more. 
 This truth is never more surely recognized than when we 
 stand together upon the brink of the eternal world or set 
 
 our faces outward and upward to the great eternity. 
 
 It is a fact with which we are familiar from infancy, 
 
 that all the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars, seem 
 
 to be set in an azure vault which, rising high over our 
 
 • i the horizon on every side. This 
 
 tial vault above us, with a corresponding one below 
 
 rms a i omplete sphere, which has been known in all 
 
THE DEW OF HER MO N. 6g 
 
 ages as the celestial sphere.* True, it is imaginary, but 
 that does not diminish its value as enabling us to form 
 definite ideas of the directions of heavenly bodies from 
 us. Think of it! Those bodies, well nigh innumerable, 
 are scattered everywhere throughout the stellar space, 
 and yet as the eye looks heavenward they seem smoothed 
 out upon the plane of the celestial arch, and move in 
 groups and constellations of individual stars and suns 
 as one host, the mighty host of the heavens of God. 
 Their lines are never broken, their order is never dis- 
 turbed, but they march on forever in harmonious line, 
 and unity so perfect that the expression " The music of 
 the spheres " is rather a fact of science than a figure of 
 poetry. 
 
 Thus it is, as it seems to me, not only with individual 
 Christians, but with those groups and constellations 
 known as congregations and Churches, when they are 
 looked at with the eye toward the infinite and eternal 
 world. They are all projected upon the celestial sphere 
 as one harmonious host. When we lift our eyes from 
 earth's narrow fields; when our vision rises above man's 
 passions, prejudices, and ambitions; when we take the 
 wider range and clearer view which come from those 
 who have eternity in sight, one after another the differ- 
 ences that had seemed to us great are overbridged, and 
 men and churches " dwell together in unity." 
 
 Surely, my friends, we must believe that this is the spirit 
 and teaching of Christ. In his great high-priestly prayer 
 in the seventeenth chapter of John, He utters in behalf of 
 his people the supplication thatthey maybe one. We have 
 seen that in a certain sense, perhaps in the deepest and 
 most important sense, that prayer has not been refused. 
 In spirit the Church is one. Yet may we, and ought we 
 to stand in our places day by day, and so w r ork that the 
 differences between us may be minimized, our common 
 resemblances magnified, and the spirit of love by which 
 we are to be bound in one be cultivated more and more. 
 
 Even those who do not walk as disciples of Christ dis- 
 cern this truth. The men of France in the barricades of 
 
 * Newcomb — "Popular Astronomy," page 7. 
 
yo THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Paris once looked, it is said, upon an image of Christ 
 and bowed to Him in reverence — not in. religious rever- 
 ence or recognition of his place as divine Author of the 
 faith, but because, as they declared, " i [e first taught fra- 
 ternity to men." Ayel the Brotherhood of man lies 
 close within the central doctrine of our theology, the 
 Fatherhood of God. We are one in Christ Jesus. Let 
 no petty spirit of jealousy consume us, but whether the 
 dews of heaven descend upon this mountain or on that, 
 on the hills ofZion or on the slopes of Hermon, let our 
 h( arts equally rejoice. In the camp of Israel of old, b< - 
 fore the tent of the congregation the Spirit of the Lord 
 I upon the elders of Israel and they prophesied. 
 M inwhile beyond those sacred precincts were two men, 
 Eldad and Medad, on whom the Spirit also rested, and 
 they prophesied in the camp. Then there ran a young 
 man and told Moses, and said "Eldad and Medad do 
 prophesy in the camp!" Joshua spoke up, (and one sees 
 how possible it is for the grandest characters to err),and 
 said — " My lord Moses, forbid them !" and Mos :s said 
 unto him," Art thou jealous for my sake? would God 
 th.it all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the 
 Lord would put his Spirit upon them !" 
 
 Moses was a prophet like unto Christ, and never was 
 this likeness more manifest than on the day when he 
 uttered ni broad :\nd catholic a desire as this. Let us 
 take up the request. Let us hope for all denominations 
 and branches of the Church of God, the outpoured spirit 
 of prophecy, the bles in , of the Lord to descend as the 
 dew on Hermon and on the hills of Zion. 
 
 Brethren, we must do it! Enemies of the faith are 
 multiplying on every hand. It is most unwise to show 
 our divisions in the presence ol the foe. " Divide it 
 intpera" — divide and conquer — has Long been a maxim 
 of the great adversary of the Church. Shall we di\ ide or 
 shall-. : up dur divisions ? The ancient Romans, 
 
 armed hield and spear, when they moved forward 
 
 to the charge placed their shields in front and over their 
 heads inclined backward, so that shield lapped on shield 
 
 * Numbers xi. 26-30. 
 
THE DEW OF HER MO N. 7 1 
 
 like the scales upon a fish. Thus was formed one solid 
 shell of opposing shields, which from this peculiar form 
 was known in military parlance as the "testudo " or tor- 
 toise. In solid phalanx, and with this solid covering, 
 they marched against their foes, whose arrows and spears 
 fell upon the common defense and found no victim in 
 the united ranks. 
 
 Our Faith the Holy Spirit has likened to a shield, 
 " the shield of faith." Let churches and individual 
 Christians join shield to shield, and thus in united rank 
 and solid host move against the foes of Christ and his 
 holy faith. Be assured that such union will give us 
 strength and victory ; that the blessing of God shall be 
 commanded upon us, even life forever more. 
 
 II. The next lesson is one of encouragement to our- 
 selves in the Discharge of daily Duty, and the Exercise 
 of Ordinary Influence among our Fellows. 
 
 The dew-drop, Ave are told, has within it a latent 
 thunderbolt, yet it melts away into the corol of the wild 
 flower and does its gentle work of nurture so silently 
 that no ear can mark it. There are many men, and yet 
 more women, who sink mildly into the earth-currents of 
 life like a dew-drop, who have latent thunder enough 
 within them to shake society if it should once go forth 
 in that wise. But would their power for good be there- 
 by any greater ? Is not that a false estimate of moral 
 forces which measures them by the noise and stir, the 
 flash and thunderous echoes which result from their 
 exercise ? Are not gentleness and repose after all the 
 mightiest powers? Let those who love and choose to 
 have their words distill as the dew remember that in the 
 silent, unobtrusive acts of daily life they may be treas- 
 uring up in other hearts forces which in their final out- 
 come will give countless blessings to the world. 
 
 A dew-drop is a very little thing, yet every drop of 
 dew is itself an accumulation of many minute particles 
 of vapor. These have been distilled from the atmos- 
 phere, atom by atom, during the night long, and have 
 gradually gathered together in little beads of moisture. 
 They catch the morning sunbeams, and glitter from 
 
THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 every leaf and flower ; they shine like strings of beaded 
 pearls from the round webs of Orbweaving spiders ; they 
 twinkle upon the flossy threads of Lineweavers that 
 everywhere mesh the bearded grasses and leafy shrubs; 
 
 they sparkle like diamonds from the whole lace of na- 
 ture. 
 
 It needs some such revelation as that which the sun 
 gives to nature to disclose the daily accumulations and 
 whole life gatherings of "little deeds of kindness," little 
 words of cue, silent acts rendered almost unconsciously 
 to our fellows, that distill from loving hearts and lips like 
 the dew of evening. That revealing sunlight may not 
 come to us here, but in the Future, when all the issues 
 of life, when all forces latent and manifest, when all ac- 
 tions silent or audible shall be uncovered by the all- 
 searching lit^ht of the eternal day in the presence of the 
 Sun of righteousness, then shall come the revelation! 
 Then forgotten or unknown. deeds of hue, which have 
 distilled like vapor of evening, shall shine like dew- 
 drops of the morning, and be as precious diamonds in 
 the coronal of your eternal rejoicing and reward. 
 
 III. Our third lesson teaches the Blessedness of Charity. 
 
 You have observed when walking in the country, or 
 through the pretty grounds that surround so man}- of our 
 West Philadelphia homes, that early in the evening the 
 grass will already be wet while the gravel walk over 
 which you tread, or some outcropping rock in the midst 
 of the field, is perfectly dry. You perhaps know that 
 the reason is that radiation from plant surfaces is far 
 more rapid than from sand, stones, and gravel. The leaves 
 give out their heat rapidly and abundantly; therefore 
 the invisible moisture of the air seeks them, clings to 
 them, and gathers upon them in beaded dew-drops, thus 
 quenching their thirst and bringing nurture to their life. 
 Fields, orchards, and forests are enriched with grain and 
 red with fruits because they freely yield to the air 
 daily and nightly the warmth that is in them. On 
 the other hand, the barren rock and sandy desert give 
 out nothing of the heat which the sun has poured into 
 their laps the whole day lone;, and lie arid and sterile. 
 
THE DEW OF HER MO N. 73 
 
 Hermon's grassy slopes invited and compelled the dewy 
 mists to settle upon them, while Hermon's rocky cliffs 
 lay hard and dry. 
 
 Is there not here also for us a lesson from the parable 
 of the dew ? He who gives shall get ; he who gets 
 should give. " Unto every one that hath shall be given."* 
 He who pours forth freely into this world the warmth 
 which so freely came into his own hand through the 
 helpful influences of heaven, home, society, church, and 
 state, shall find the answer in richer gifts of heaven, 
 which shall nurture and beautify his spiritual life. But 
 he whose soul is as a rocky cliff on Hermon, a stone in 
 the field of this world, who yields up nothing of that 
 warmth which heaven has poured upon him, may remain 
 eternally solitary in his own fruitlessness, unblest of 
 heaven because bringing no blessing to others. " There 
 is that scattereth and increaseth yet more ; and there is 
 that witholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to 
 poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that 
 watereth shall be watered also himselff The dew-drops 
 love a heat-yielding surface, but shun the selfish rocks 
 that treasure their own warmth and yield nothing to the 
 air. Let us learn from this a lesson also. 
 
 IV. Our next lesson from the dew is one of Consecra- 
 tion of Early Life and of Life's Freshest Powers to God. 
 
 This duty is beautifully conveyed to us in the 1 10th 
 Psalm (verse 3): "Thy people shall be willing in the day 
 of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb 
 of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth." There 
 is a melodious rhythm about this text which has fixed 
 it in the memories of many, but are you right sure you 
 understand it ? We shall understand it better, at least, if 
 we learn that the expression " youth " is not equivalent 
 to early years or childhood, but is used in the sense of 
 young people, young men. The text is therefore equiv- 
 alent to this — Thy youth are to thee as the dew out of the 
 womb of the morning. Hengstenburg reads it, " Thy 
 youth-like soldiers are as dew for beauty." 
 
 * Matt. xxv. 29. f Prov. xi. 24, 25. 
 
74 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Now if we turn to the Psalm we shall sec that it is a 
 promise of Jehovah to the Divine Messiah, and that it 
 looks forward to the time when men throughout the 
 Church and world shall yield themselves as willing offer- 
 ings to the Saviour. "Thy people offer themselves wil- 
 lingly in the day of thy power." Among those who thus 
 offer themselves, a most grateful gift indeed, are the 
 strong young men and maidens fair of the land. These 
 are given to God in their morning freshness like the dew 
 for beauty. We might thus render somewhat freely the 
 see' md and third vers< 
 
 2. The sceptre of Thy righteousness 
 
 I rom Zion shall the Lord send forth : 
 Be Ruler, Thou, among Thy foes I 
 
 3. Thy people to Thy muster troop 
 In sacred festal 1 Ires - arrayed, 
 
 More than the drop-- of morning's womb ; 
 Like morning dew spring forth thy youth. 
 
 Yes, and we may carry our figure further. Like the 
 dew the holy youth shall come in perpetual succession, 
 for children are the hope of the Church ; like the drops 
 of dew they come in number, too. Like the dew also 
 the_\- suddenly appeal', seen all at once under the new- 
 risen Sun of righteousness. Ami may we not adopt an- 
 other thought from Hengstenburg and say that they 
 come, " Altogether begotten from above."f The metre 
 version of Tate and Brady has thus expressed the com- 
 ing to Christ of those who 
 
 "Shall .ill, redeemed from error's night — 
 Appear .is nnmberless .md bright 
 
 As crystal drop- of morning dew." 
 
 This is indeed a sweet prophecy. What hopes it stirs 
 within our hearts concerning the youth of this and every 
 land! Would that these hopes to-day mighl he fulfilled 
 in the rendering up to God, as a sweet and a 
 sacrifice, all the youth to whom this m comes! 
 
 Delitsch, in i " »nar — "Commentary <>:i th< 
 
 Psalms," in loc 
 
THE DE U ' OF HERMON. J 5 
 
 While the fragrance and the beauty of our morning round us lies, 
 We would of the heart's libation pour to Thee a sacrifice ; 
 Trustful that the Hand which scatters blessings every morning new, 
 Would refill the urn of offering, as a floweret with the dew : 
 Pure and sweet the exhalations from a grateful heart to Heaven ; 
 Unto Thee then be the incense of our Cardiphonia given, 
 Ere the noontide sun shall wither, or the gathering twilight hour 
 Closes the outpouring chalice of the morn's expanded flower.* 
 
 V. We have yet another lesson to learn from the dew, 
 a lesson of Preparation to Receive the Gifts of God. 
 
 However full the air may be of invisible vapor or 
 moisture in the form of mist, there will be no deposit of 
 dew until the temperature of the earth has reached a 
 certain degree, which is called " the dew point." That 
 represents the point at which vapor will condense upon 
 earth surfaces in tiny drops of water. Now, Heaven's 
 gifts, like the invisible moisture of the atmosphere, every- 
 where overhang the souls of men. They are present in 
 the greatest abundance, and they come very near to us. 
 We walk in the midst of them. They push themselves 
 against us, and solicit us to appropriate them to our- 
 selves. Why then are not our hearts enriched thereby ? 
 Simply because we fail in preparation. We have not 
 reached the spiritual Dew Point ! There are always two 
 sides to this matter of spiritual blessings. One side is 
 that of Heaven which gives, gives freely, gives always. 
 The other side is that of earth. It is of you, my friend! 
 The mercies of God will not be, and cannot be forced 
 upon an unwilling soul. There must be on your part 
 that condition of faith and willingness which will cause 
 the mercies of Heaven at once to distill upon your heart 
 like the dew of heaven upon the thirsty grass. " Be- 
 hold," says the Divine Master, " I stand at the door and 
 knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, 
 I will come in."f " Open to me, *■ * * for my 
 head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of 
 the night."| You hear that voice to-day. Will you open 
 the door ? Will you seek that preparation of heart to 
 which Heaven's blessings may respond ? If so, be 
 assured that you shall this hour be blessed by the bene- 
 dictions of a bountiful God. 
 
 * Hannah Lloyd Neal. f Rev. iii. 20. % Canticles v. 2. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 Hail : God's Reserves of War. 
 
 ^Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I haz'e 
 reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of 
 battle and war?' 1 '' — Job xxxviii. 22, 23. 
 
HAIL— GOD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 
 
 We are already familiar with the fact that the atmos- 
 phere surrounding us is an immense ocean of vapor. 
 Lieutenant Maury made an estimate based upon the 
 average annual rain-fall, which is sufficient to cover the 
 earth to the depth of five feet, that this atmospheric 
 ocean contains an amount of water equal to a lake six- 
 teen feet deep, three thousand miles broad, and twenty- 
 four thousand miles long.* From this reservoir of 
 moisture we have already learned that mist and dew 
 are continually precipitated upon the earth. f From 
 this same storehouse issue forth those other phenomena 
 which we have yet to consider — hail, snow, and rain. 
 The challenge made to Job, " Hast thou seen the treas- 
 ures of the hail ?" was perhaps unanswerable in the days 
 of the patriarch. In a measure it is still unanswered ; 
 but modern investigations in meteorology have enabled 
 us to draw aside the cloud-curtain, peep into Nature's 
 laboratory, and obtain a reasonably clear mental insight 
 of the formation of hail. 
 
 Hail is formed only in summer, and is almost invaria- 
 bly an accompaniment of tornadoes. It is found in one 
 or sometimes two belts outside of the tornado track and 
 parallel to it.J 
 
 If a large hailstone is cut in two the centre or nucleus 
 is found to be a minute snow-ball ; then comes a ring of 
 clear ice, then a ring of snow-ball-like conglomerate, 
 and so on. This indicates that two different influences 
 following each other in repeated succession have caused 
 the formation. What are those influences? 
 
 A tornado or whirlwind may be described as a hol- 
 low cone of air in violent spiral motion around its own 
 
 * Maury — "Sailing Directions," vol. I., page 28. 1858. f Lec- 
 tures II., III., IV. X Blasius — "Storms : their Nature, Classifica- 
 tion, and Laws," page 140. 
 
 (79) 
 
8o 77/A" GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 axis, which is continually moving forward. The walls of 
 moist warm air arc in the highest state of saturation and 
 compression, as well as motion ; the centre or vortex is 
 com]). natively calm. The humid air continually drops 
 into the vortex and passes under conditions of much di- 
 minished pressure. Rapid expansion follows ; the tem- 
 perature is greatly reduced, the moisture condenses and 
 freezes. Thus are formed the little snow-ball nuclei of 
 the hailstones. Up they go, borne along their spiral 
 road by the gyrations of the tornado. As they mount 
 aloft they are tossed to and fro in all directions by the 
 surging air, aided perhaps by electrical attraction. The 
 impinging pellets are kneaded and balled together by 
 regelation. This process continues until the weight of 
 the accumulated masses enables them to overcome the 
 vortex motion of the air currents and the attraction of 
 electricity which is commonly formed under such cir- 
 cumstances, when they break away from the warring ele- 
 ments in which they had their formation and fall to the 
 earth as hailstones. 
 
 But it is possible that in the wild commotion of those 
 upper regions these icy drops may not be permitted to 
 fall directly to the ground. They may be caught in 
 their descent upon the edges of some eddy and whirled 
 in again towards the vortex bv the inflowing currents, 
 and once more be borne swiftly aloft into the freezing 
 regions. This process may occur again and again, and 
 several revolutions of ascent and descent be made before 
 the hailstones are able to fall to the earth. While cross- 
 ing the region lower down, where the}- meet the yet un- 
 frozen rain, they receive a coat of solid ice on precisely 
 the same principle that a cold stone pavement will often 
 have an icy surface on a warm winter morning. Thus 
 alternate coatings of snow and ice are received, and the 
 number of such icy jackets carried by each hailstone in- 
 dicates the number of revolutions described before they 
 began their headlong descent to the ground. 
 
 It has already been intimated that during the process 
 of hail formation electricity is usually generated. In 
 fact hail generally precedes, and sometimes accompanies 
 thunder and lightning. The sharp rattling noise of hail- 
 
HAIL: GOD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 8 1 
 
 stones against each other during a hail-storm is in part 
 probably electrical, and the electricity doubtless has 
 something to do in attracting the minute ice masses to 
 each other. Electricity, however, is not the origin of 
 hail as has sometimes been supposed, but rather elec- 
 tricity and hail are results of the same combination of 
 causes. At all events the association of thunder and 
 lightning with the hail-storm was observed by the ancient 
 writers, as may readily be seen in the Psalmist's noble 
 description of the tempest. 
 
 9. He bowed the heavens also, and came down ; 
 And darkness thick was underneath his feet. 
 
 10. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly : 
 Yea, swiftly flew upon the wings of the wind. 
 
 11. Darkness he made his hidingplace,his pavilion round about him; 
 Darkness of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. 
 
 12. Out of the brightness before him there broke through his clouds, 
 Hailstones and coals of fire ! 
 
 13. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, 
 And the Most High uttered his voice ; 
 Hailstones and coals of fire ! 
 
 14. And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them ; 
 Yea, lightnings manifold, and discomfited them.* 
 
 I. The hail teaches the Providential Interposition of 
 God in Human Affairs. 
 
 God rules. That is a lesson which men have learned 
 in all ages, and which God himself will see to it that they 
 never shall forget. " Hast thou seen the treasures of the 
 hail," He asked Job, " which I have reserved against the 
 day of battle and war? " What does He mean by this ? 
 In what sense are hail-storms God's Reserves of War ? 
 " Reserves," in military usage, are troops kept back from 
 the battle line and held ready for any exigency. Is any 
 point of attack weakened ? They are ordered to strengthen 
 it. Does the foe assault from some unexpected quarter? 
 The " reserves " are ordered to meet him. Does he 
 waver so that a little more pressure will break his ranks ? 
 Forth rush the " reserves " to strike and rout the waver- 
 ing line. Has God such " reserves" held back by Him 
 to turn the tide of battle, and support his struggling 
 
 * Psalm xviii. 9-14. 
 
8 2 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl 'RE. 
 
 hosts of truth in an hour of emergency ? Yes. The allu- 
 sion of the text is plainly to a class of facts in the Divine 
 Providence which have abundant illustration in the his- 
 tory of Israel. Let us notice two of these. 
 
 The battle of Beth Horon is not often alluded to in 
 military histories, yet it is one of the most important ever 
 waged. It decided the destiny of Palestine, settled the 
 land firmly in the possession of the Hebrew nation, and 
 thus laid the foundations of that sacred history whose 
 opening chapters are recorded in the Old Testament 
 Scriptures; whose grand development appears in the 
 Christianity of the New Testament; whose magnificent 
 continuance we may read in the records of the last 
 eighteen centuries, and whose glorious unfolding lies 
 before us in that future upon which the nations of Chris- 
 tendom are entering. What was the battle of Beth 
 Horon? 
 
 The venerable general, Joshua, who led the Hebrew 
 hosts across the Jordan, first destroyed Jericho, which 
 was the eastern key to the country commanding the 
 approach from the plains of .the Jordan valley. He then 
 found himself at the foot of the mountain regions of 
 which the heart of Palestine consists, and which had 
 to be won before the country could be possessed. He 
 began by seizing the pass of Ai. He entered into a 
 treaty of offense and defense with the citizens of Gibeon, 
 a town at the head of the pass, and then marched back 
 to his camp at Gilgal. The Canaanitish tribes, enraged at 
 the conduct of their countrymen, gathered from far and 
 near and marched against Gibeon to destroy it. The Gib- 
 eonites sent swift messengers to their new ally. Joshua, 
 with the true instincts of a great commander, saw that 
 the pivotal conflict of the war was upon him. Gibeon 
 was the key of the interior country. To advance and 
 strike terror at once into the Canaanites was a first ne- 
 cessity. A forced march was made up the mountain, 
 and in the course of a little more than a night he accom- 
 plished a three days' journey. Falling suddenly upon 
 the Canaanitish troops who were beleaguering the city o( 
 Gibeon, he drove them before him up the mountain 
 roads until they reached the head of the pass where they 
 
HAIL: GOD'S RESERVES OE WAR. 83 
 
 could look westward upon the Mediterranean Sea. Over 
 the summits of the mountains the Hebrew soldiers 
 poured. Now there came to their aid those reserves of 
 war of which the Almighty speaks in our text. A cloud 
 gathered in the eastern sky. It darkened over the hori- 
 zon. The wind rose ; flashes of lightning illumined the 
 scene, and the noise of elemental war mingled with the 
 sound of mortal battle. Suddenly there fell from the 
 heavens a storm of hail. It beat upon the backs of the 
 Hebrew soldiers, but as it swept toward the east it came 
 full in the faces of the army of the Canaanites as they 
 slowly retired towards the western horizon. "And it 
 came to pass as they fled from before the Lord, while 
 they were in the going down of Beth Horon, that the 
 Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them, 
 and they died. There were more which died with the 
 hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew 
 with the sword."* In other words, the influence of the 
 storm upon the already disheartened troops of Canaan 
 was more disastrous than the swords of the victorious 
 Hebrews. 
 
 Now, the devout warriors and people of that olden 
 time believed that no event came without the permissive 
 will or active purpose of God. There was no doubt in 
 the mind of Joshua and his soldiers that this storm 
 which had prevented the enemy from rallying in the 
 familiar passes of Beth Horon, and which had enabled 
 them to push the battle forward to the very extermina- 
 tion of the army, was a direct interposition of Jehovah 
 their God. In that hail-storm they saw those reserves 
 of war which God had held back against this day for 
 them, and at the very crucial moment of the fight had 
 let loose upon the enemy, and thus obtained for Israel 
 the victory. 
 
 Take another illustration from Hebrew history. We 
 go forward a little in point of time to the age of Deborah, 
 the warrior prophetess, judge, and poetess of ancient 
 Israel. The Hebrew people, by one of those reverses 
 which are continually occurring in history, had lost their 
 
 * Joshua x. 11. 
 
84 THE Gi )SPEL IN NA TL HI.. 
 
 grip upon the people of the land and were " mightily 
 oppressed " by King Jabin and his general Sisera.* The 
 spirit of Deborah revolted against this degradation. 
 She sought to inspire Barak to active opposition, and 
 when his laggard spirit refused the whole responsibility, 
 she herself summoned the tribes of Israel to rendezvous, 
 and, accompanied by Barak, marched forth against the 
 Canaanites. The scene of the battle was the beautiful 
 plain of Esdraelon. It lies between the foot hills of 
 Lebanon on the north where the town of Nazareth looks 
 down up<m it, and the hills of Gilboaand the mountains 
 of Ephraim on the south. On the west the high shoul- 
 der of Mount Carmel pushes into it, and eastward are 
 the hills that border the river Jordan. Directly through 
 this plain flows the river Kishon with its branches, which 
 are known as the "waters of Megiddo." In the north- 
 eastern corner of this plain Mount Tabor rises upwards 
 to the height of eighteen hundred feet, a solitary eleva- 
 tion. Along the wooded slopes of this mountain was 
 encamped the army of Deborah and Barak, numbering 
 ten thousand foot soldiers.. Directly south-westward, 
 thirteen miles away, across the beautiful valley and 
 branching streams that flowed amongst green fields and 
 flow r cry meadows, the Canaanitish tribes were encamped 
 at an ancient fortress called Taanach. They were under 
 the command of Sisera. 
 
 That stretch of land lying between the two armies is a 
 famous battle-field of the old world. In and adjacent 
 to the plain Gideon achieved his triumph over the 
 Amalekites, and here too the glory of Israel was dark- 
 ened for a time by the fall of Saul and Jonathan upon 
 Gilboa. It was adjacent to Aphek, in the plain, that 
 Ahab and the Israelites obtained a miraculous victory 
 over the Syrians under Benhadad, while at Megiddo the 
 pious Joshua fell in battle against the Egyptian monarch. 
 Then came the times of the Romans with battles under 
 Gabinius and Vespasian. The period of the Crusades 
 furnishes its account of the contests in and around the 
 plain. At Hattin the renown of the Crusaders sank be- 
 
 *Judyi.s iv. 2. 
 
HAIL: GOD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 85 
 
 fore the crescent of Saladin. Almost in our own day 
 the battle of Mount Tabor was one of the triumphs of 
 Napoleon, while at Akka, near Carmel, he was baffled 
 and driven back from Syria.* 
 
 These historic associations were all in the future as 
 that little band of ill-armed and undisciplined Israelites 
 faced their powerful, well-armed, well-organized, and 
 victorious enemies advancing from the heights across 
 the plain. They needed all the inspiration that Deborah 
 could give them to urge them to the attack. With un- 
 hesitating confidence she raised her battle cry, "Awake, 
 Deborah !f Arise, Barak ! Up ! for this is the day in 
 which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thy hand."J 
 
 Down from the wooded heights descended Barak and 
 his ten thousand men. They moved westward along 
 the plain which here forms a large bay to the south. 
 The great caravan route from Damascus to Egypt passes, 
 and probably at that time already passed across it.§ 
 
 When the little army of Israelites saw the dense array 
 of the enemy and their nine hundred chariots of war, a 
 terrible enginery for infantry to face, they and their com- 
 mander Barak, says Josephus, " were so frightened that 
 they were resolved to march off had not Deborah re- 
 tained them, and commanded them to fight the enemy 
 that very day, for that they should conquer them, and 
 God would be their assistance. So the battle began."|| 
 Thus centuries before the Maid of Orleans this Hebrew 
 Joan of Arc led armed men into battle. 
 
 What the issue of the contest might have been had it 
 been left to the unaided valor of the Hebrews we cannot 
 say. Fortunately that Divine Ruler whom they believed 
 superior to all kings and potentates, held in his Hand 
 the Reserves of War which were to decide the battle. 
 As the armies closed, the skies darkened above them. 
 A storm swiftly swept from the north-east out of the hills 
 of Hermon and Lebanon, a fruitful breeder of storms in 
 Palestine, as Pike's Peak is in Colorado. The tempest 
 rushed across the plain and burst with fury in the midst 
 
 * "Robinson's Researches," vol. II., page 366. f Judges v. 12. 
 %Id.,\v. 14- ? Stanley—" History Jewish Church," vol. I., Lecture 
 XIV. || Josephus—" Antiquities," book 5, chapter 5, section 3. 
 
86 THE COS/'/:/, IN NATURE. 
 
 of the combatants. Remember, now, that the army of 
 the Canaanites was marching eastward while the Israelites 
 
 were marching westward. The storm, therefore, coming 
 from the ea t, broke upon the backs of the Hebrews, 
 but beat full in the faces of their enemies. It was ac- 
 companied witli a vast downfall of rain and hail. It 
 darkened the eyes of the Canaanitish soldiers so that 
 their anows and slings were of no advantage to them. 
 It chilled their hands, so that the soldiers could not 
 make use of their swords.* The Hebrew warriors saw 
 in this hail-storm a direct interposition of Providence 
 in their behalf. It seemed to them the fulfillment of 
 Deborah's prophecy. Their hearts were strengthened, 
 their fears dispelled, and with fresh courage and vigor 
 they threw themselves upon their foes. They knew the 
 value as well as the source of these Reserves of War, 
 which from the forces of nature had come to their aid. 
 
 The waters of the storm fell so copiously, that the 
 plain was soon beaten into mud beneath the hoofs of the 
 horses and wheels of the chariots. 
 
 The numerous rivulets began to overflow their banks, 
 and added to the inconvenience of managing the cavalry. 
 The dreaded and terrible engineer}- upon which Sisera 
 had so strongly relied, became an element of dang 
 
 The horses, made frantic by the hail, pranced and 
 plunged as we have seen these animals do in our city 
 ,t and turned back upon their own lines. The 
 footmen were thrown into disorder, and, rendered help- 
 less by the blinding storm, broke their ranks. In the 
 degree that their enemies' hearts sank, the courage and 
 hope of the Hebrews rose, so that they fought with in- 
 creasing bravery and success. Panic si ized the Canaan- 
 rid then the end soon came. The dissolved, 
 
 and a vast number perished. Their general Sisera dis- 
 mounted from his chariot and lied, only to find an i 
 
 minious death at the hand of Jael the Kenite. The 
 battle- was decisive; Israel was delivered from subjection, 
 and began anew- her noble career as an independent na- 
 tion. The victory was celebrated by the prophetess in 
 
 ephus. | 1 >uring the hailstorm ol May 
 
HAIL: GOD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 87 
 
 those triumphal odes known as Deborah's Song, whose 
 artistic forms and elevated nature with all its antique 
 simplicity show to what refined art lyric poetry aspired, 
 and what a delicate perception of beauty already breathed 
 through it.* The portion of Deborah's Song descriptive 
 of the battle, together with the conclusion, I venture to 
 present in the following version : — 
 
 VII. The Battle and Flight. 
 
 19. There came kings and fought, 
 
 Then fought the kings of Canaan 
 At Taanach, on Megiddo's waters ; 
 Spoils of silver they took not ! 
 
 20. From Heaven they fought ; the stars 
 From their orbits fought with Sisera. 
 
 21. The torrents of Kishon swept them away, 
 That ancient river, the river Kishon. 
 Trample down, O my soul, their strength ! 
 Then stamped the hoofs of the horses, 
 From the plungings of mighty ones, 
 
 The plungings in morass and flood ! 
 
 X. The Mother's Watch. 
 
 28. The mother of Sisera leaned through the window, 
 And thus she lamented through the lattice : 
 
 " Why is his chariot long in coming ? 
 Why do the wheels of his chariot tarry ? ' ' 
 
 29. The wise ones among her princesses answer 
 Yea, she repeats to herself their answer . 
 
 30. "They are surely finding, dividing the prey, 
 One damsel, — two, for the head of each hero ! 
 Prey of divers colors for Sisera, 
 
 Prey of divers colors of broidery, 
 
 One of mixed colors, two of embroidery, 
 
 For the necks of damsels token as prey." 
 
 XI. The Conclusion. 
 
 31. So let all thine enemies perish, 
 
 O Lord Jehovah ! 
 But them that love Him be as the sun 
 When he goeth forth in his might ! 
 
 Ewald — " History of Israel,." II., page 354. 
 
88 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 Does it seem to you that God does not deal in this 
 way with nations at the present time ? Then you have 
 read modern history neither wisely nor devoutly. Was 
 not England saved by the storms that scattered the 
 Spanish Armada? Go back to the War of the Rebel- 
 lion, and you will find as striking evidences of God's in- 
 terposition as any that are recorded in the history of 
 Israel. Time and again were those Reserves of War 
 which God keeps within the forces of nature, sent out to 
 strike in behalf of our Republic. Take one example. 
 On the eighth of March, A. D. 1862, there occurred an 
 extraordinary event in Hampton Roads near Norfolk, 
 Virginia. The Confederates had converted the United 
 States' frigate Merrimac into an iron-clad ram. Our 
 fleet of wooden frigates lay in Hampton Roads besieging 
 Norfolk. You may remember still the tremor that every 
 now and then shook the hearts of Philadelphians, as their 
 well-grounded fears were awakened by the rumor that 
 some formidable sea monster was being prepared, which 
 would crush through our wooden hulls like egg-shells, 
 and make its way to the cities of the North, carrying 
 destruction and levying tribute. That day seemed to 
 have dawned at last. The mail-clad Merrimac steamed 
 out from Norfolk to attack our blockading fleet. She 
 dashed her iron prow into their wooden sides, while their 
 cannon-balls rolled from her own armored walls as if 
 the}' had been paper pellets. When evening had fallen, 
 the Cumberland had gone down with all on board; the 
 Congress had been forced to surrender; the Minnesota 
 was run aground, and apparently destined to fall an easy 
 prey on the morrow to this monster of the sea. It was 
 a black night in the history of our Republic. 
 
 What would the morrow bring ? Wow could the mor- 
 row bring deliverance ? What power would come to our 
 assistance to fray from us the awful disaster that seemed 
 impending? Humanly speaking, the fate of the nation 
 was in the balance, with scarce a hope that the scales 
 would swing to our favor. But during that night a 
 strange-looking object, resembling more a cheese box 
 upon a raft than a vessel of war, appeared upon the 
 scene. It was the " Monitor" of Ericsson, a small steam 
 
HAIL: COD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 89 
 
 floating battery, with a revolving turret within which two 
 1 i-inch guns were placed. Morning dawned ; the Mer- 
 rimac, confident of her irresistible power, and certain of 
 complete success, steamed out "to renew her ravages only 
 to be brought to bay by this new-come adversary. 
 The two vessels fought for hours when the Merrimac 
 was compelled to fall back into Norfolk, leaving the 
 little Monitor in possession of the field.* The honor of 
 the navy was restored. The nation was saved. The 
 ports of New York and Philadelphia and all our north- 
 ern seaboard were delivered from devastation. Those of 
 you whose memories can go back to that period will recol- 
 lect that this sudden and most timely appearance of the 
 Monitor was regarded universally as an Act of Provi- 
 dence. We saw in it the Hand of a good God interpos- 
 ing in our behalf. We were filled with the sentiment 
 which during that troubled period stamped upon our 
 coin the national motto " In God we trust," and gave us 
 the " Battle Hymn of the Republic." True, men had 
 shown wisdom and skill in devising and constructing this 
 vessel, but what wisdom or skill could have so timed the 
 appearance of the vessel ? At least all devout hearts 
 must believe and feel that He who guards the destinies 
 of nations and of men, who holds in His hands those 
 unseen reserves of war by whose sudden coming upon 
 scenes of human conflict destinies are so often settled; 
 that He had held the winds and the waves in the hollow 
 of His Hand, and had so timed all the exigencies and in- 
 cidents surrounding the Monitor that it was permitted 
 to steam silently, in the very nick of time, to the duty 
 and service which saved the Republic. 
 
 No wonder the soldiers of that great conflict could 
 sing: " Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of 
 the Lord ! " 
 
 I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps ; 
 They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps 
 I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps : 
 His day is marching on ! f 
 
 2. As it is with nations so it is with individuals. The 
 Bible everywhere teaches that God carries the same 
 
 * See "The Century," March, 1885. f Julia Ward Howe. 
 
90 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 methods into the spheres of individual life that are dis- 
 played in the broader fields of national destiny. Indeed 
 
 it could not be otherwise. Society is made up of indi- 
 viduals, and the aggregate can only be regulated by 
 regulating the units. To say, therefore, that God over- 
 rules the destinies of nations is but to say in another 
 form that he overrules the destinies of men. "The 
 greatest rivers," says a Chinese proverb, "arc cradled 
 in the leaves of the pine." In a measure that is true. 
 The vast forests of coniferous trees which cover the 
 sides of mountains and send up their myriads of deli- 
 cate, needle-like leaves toward the sky, present so many 
 attracting points to the over-passing clouds, and help to 
 drawdown to themselves and the earth that moisture 
 which feeds the sources of rivers. So the mighty 
 streams of national destiny have their rise in individual 
 life and action. He who thinks of great events must 
 not separate his thoughts from the little things that 
 encompass and control their origin. You know how 
 beautifully our Divine Lord taught this truth: " Behold 
 the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they 
 nap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father 
 feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"* 
 
 Every man is permitted to think of himself as the 
 direct object of Divine care. I spoke in my last 
 lecture of that celestial sphere, as astronomers have 
 called it, which appears to surround the earth. The 
 direction or apparent positions of the heavenly bodies, 
 as well as their apparenl motions, have always been de- 
 fined by their situation and motion on this sphere. " It 
 matters not," says an American astronomer, "how large 
 we suppose this sphere, so long as we always suppose 
 the observer to be in the centre of it, so that it -hall 
 surround him on all sides at an equal distance. Hut in 
 the language and reasoning ^\ exact astronomy, it is 
 always supposed to be infinite, as then an observer may 
 conceive >■( himself as transported to another point, 
 even one of the heavenly bodies themselves, and -till be 
 for all practical purposes in the centre < f this sphi 
 
 » Matthew vi. 26. tNEWcoMB "Populi iray," chapter L 
 
HAIL: GOD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 9 1 
 
 Now it seems to me that this conception of an all-en- 
 compassing celestial sphere which every individual must 
 make for the practical uses of astronomy, is one which 
 is just as necessary to make for the practical uses of our 
 spiritual life. Every living soul may dare to conceive 
 himself as a central point of celestial thought and care, 
 towards whom, in all the exigencies of life, shall centre 
 and focus whatever agencies of help God may think 
 needful. God is not unmindful of the struggles which 
 human hearts have to endure in this life. " He knoweth 
 our frame ; he remembereth that we are dust."* He 
 knows the enemies against whom we contend, so nu- 
 merous, so insatiable, so much more powerful than our- 
 selves. He knows the secret foes who too often hold 
 possession of the fortress of the heart, and stand ready 
 to betray us to God's enemies and our own. Be sure, 
 then, that in the crisis of spiritual conflicts, in the hour of 
 greatest temporal need, our heavenly Commander, from 
 his high vantage point of observation viewing all the 
 field, will send forth his Reserves of grace to strengthen 
 us and preserve us. We must not let go faith in this 
 great truth. God rules. He rules for its. We may trust 
 Him implicitly. We may venture into the conflict, not 
 rashly, not self-confidently, not presumptuously, but as- 
 sured that if our strength should fail there are reserves in 
 heaven, hosts of God, agencies at his command that shall 
 be bidden forth to our rescue. 
 
 This is a very comforting truth. The soldier who 
 goes into battle has always more confidence because he 
 remembers that behind him wait the reserves, often the 
 very flower of the army. If there shall be need, they 
 will dash forward at the commander's order to strike 
 here and there, to strengthen a wavering line, or charge 
 with fresh energy when the enemy's line has been 
 broken, and thus make assurance doubly sure. Should 
 not the Christian soldier in like manner be confident as 
 he goes forth to the conflict ; more cheerful, more coura- 
 geous, more hopeful of success, because he knows well 
 that God's Reserves of War are waiting to serve him in 
 any hour of need ? 
 
 * Psalm ciii. 14. 
 
9 2 THE G( '.v/'/.v. IN X- 1 Tl J RE. 
 
 II. Our next lesson from the hail is one of Divine 
 Judgment upon the Ungodly. 
 
 I hot only rules, but he rules in righteousness. 
 The prophet Isaiah* expresses the judgment of the Lord 
 upon the Assyrians under the figures of the lighting 
 down of his arm, with indignation of his anger and 
 tempest and hailstones. In the book of Revelation! 
 the opening of the seals and the pouring forth of the 
 vials upon the nations is associated with hail: "And 
 there fell upon nun a great hail out of heaven, even- 
 stone about the weight of a talent." As the weight of 
 a talent is a hundred and twenty-five pounds troy, the 
 figure becomes a very strong expression of the judg- 
 ment of destruction which it conveyed. It is not neces- 
 sary perhaps to explain it literally, and yet we have 
 records | of hailstones ranging in size from a half-brick 
 to that of a sheep and even of an elephant. The simple 
 point with us, however, is to grasp the lesson which 
 God would teach through this imager}-. 
 
 Justice is one of the attributes of the Divine nature. 
 It is impossible for us to conceive of that nature as a 
 perfect one without enthroning justice within it. There 
 is no quality of the human heart that is more admirable 
 than justice. "A just man" is a tribute of highest 
 praise. No higher encomium can be passed upon an 
 executive and judicial officer than "He is a just nil 
 
 is a just judge." There i> no virtue whose practice 
 would be more likely to bring harmony out of the dis- 
 cords of society than justice. Long ago the inspil 
 writer gave the best solution of the actual or imaginary 
 "conflict" between Labor and Capital. "Masters, ren- 
 der unto your servants that which is just and equality." 
 "Servants, obey not with eye service, but with single- 
 
 of heart,' fearing God." § For "masters" read 
 "employers," and for "servants" read "employees," and 
 you have at once a principle that will cause th 
 m. nt - to combine. Unjust wools hastily spoken, unju ;1 
 thought! entertained within the heart, unjust actions 
 
 *Chapt< • ter via. 7. and xvi. 21. J Chambers' 
 
 lopaedia, art. Hax '. I los iii - . and iv. 1. 
 
HAIL: GOD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 93 
 
 towards individuals or parties — these are the seeds 
 whose sowing surely will result in a harvest of discord 
 and regrets. Justice is expediency. Justice is harmony. 
 Nay, justice is benevolence. 
 
 It would be impossible on earth to administer govern- 
 ment without the quality of justice. It is equally im- 
 possible for Heaven to rule without the same quality. 
 But justice implies judgment upon the offender; and as 
 long as there are men who dishonor every noble quality 
 of manhood — who offend God, trample virtue under 
 foot, disregard law, mercy, righteousness, and truth — 
 just so long must Heaven be armed with the sword to 
 administer fitting penalty and preserve in the midst of 
 the world the sovereignty of Divine Law. 
 
 A duty devolves upon all public teachers, indeed on 
 every man and woman in society, to keep alive in 
 human hearts a sense of indignation against moral evil. 
 Selfishness, impurity, falsehood are very strongly in- 
 trenched within human nature, and may easily get the 
 mastery of men unless they be kept under subjection by 
 the force of a well-disciplined conscience and right pub- 
 lic sentiment. Justice is often represented as blind. 
 Certainly, at least, she often has her eyes closed, and he 
 who keeps his eyes long closed will surely fall asleep. 
 When justice sleeps the community is in peril. She 
 needs to be awakened, even by the loud cries of a right- 
 eous indignation. Those cries are often heard. Alas ! 
 too frequently there occur outbreakings of human de- 
 pravity of such especial heinousness that the whole 
 community — the whole world, at times — is shocked, and 
 instinctively men cry out for justice upon the offenders. 
 I believe that that voice, which never is wholly silenced 
 from the human breast, is an utterance from that Divine 
 Image and Likeness enstamped upon man in his origin. 
 Justice is Divine! and the execution of judgment upon 
 the sinner must surely be regarded as in the line of 
 righteous and necessary action. Shall we suppose an 
 example ? 
 
 There is a young woman whose fair, sweet face bears 
 in every feature the stamp of virtue. That maiden's 
 guileless heart has never cherished a thought of sin or 
 
94 
 
 Till: GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 suspicion of impurity for herself or for any fellow- 
 creature. But see ! she is met face to face by a man 
 — by one who bears at least the form of man. In 
 his impure heart he has marked that maiden as his vic- 
 tim. He is the master of all the arts by which unsus- 
 picious women are persuaded to trust with unwavering 
 confidence those in whom their hearts become enlisted. 
 Day by clay, week by week with stealthy approach, with 
 unrelenting purpose he plies his awful art until at last his 
 purpose is on the verge of its dreadful accomplishment. 
 I have seen a large beautiful cat creeping through a mass 
 of bright green grass bedecked with lovely flowers, 
 moving with the noiseless gliding stride characteristic of 
 the feline species, its great green eyes fixed yonder upon 
 some object that I could not quite discern among the 
 low-hanging boughs of a tree. On, across the beds of 
 flowers;' on, across the lovely lawn, until at last the 
 creature pauses. It raises its head, curves its back, sinks 
 upon its haunches, crouching to spring upon what I 
 now see is a fledgling bird innocently twittering and dis- 
 porting upon that hanging -branch. The cat is doing 
 nothing foreign to its nature, only indeed that which 
 nature taught it. Yet every impulse of your being, were 
 you a witness of such a scene, would prompt you to rush 
 forward as I do with a cry of alarm to fray away the 
 skulking beast, and save the little birdling from it- 
 threatened doom. Yes, you are angry at poor Puss. 
 You strike her with indignant outthrust of your foot 
 
 A!i! but this creaturewho bears the form of man, this 
 beast in manhood's fleshly livery, who has deliberately 
 plotted and waits upon the execution of his lustful pur- 
 pose — w hat vial of wrath so full, so fierce that your 
 hand would not pour out upon him? But let us sup- 
 pose, further, that this stealthy beast of preymeets no 
 interposing hand to drive him from his victim; that this 
 unsuspicious maiden hears no voice raised to warn her of 
 her danger, and bid her flee. The deed is done. That 
 fur life is blasted. Th.it soul is sullied with an impurity 
 that never here, and mayhap never hereafter, shall be 
 washed away. 1 [uman justice is foiled in the pursuit and 
 punishment of her seducer. Nay, on the contrary, he en- 
 
HAIL: GOD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 95 
 
 joys wealth, honor, and public station. What then? Is 
 justice indeed blind ? Is justice asleep? Is justice dead? 
 Is there ;/# justice that can overtake a wretch like that and 
 visit him with the penalty which such crime demands ? 
 
 Yes, my friends, God has his reserves of war! Let 
 wicked men tremble as they remember that God is Just, 
 and turn from the purposes of evil upon which their 
 hearts are fixed. I know that on earth justice seems to 
 tarry long, and hearts grow weary in their cry to the 
 Almighty to make bare his Arm and interpose for the 
 protection and defense of truth and innocence. But if 
 not here, then hereafter Justice shall be vindicated. 
 There is nothing that seems to me to present a stronger 
 argument for a future being, for an immortal life in 
 which the inequalities of this world shall be rendered 
 even by the All-just Rector of the world, than the fact 
 that so much, injustice does prevail in this life, so many 
 wrongs go unrighted, and so many sins unpunished. 
 Surely, since justice is an attribute infinite, eternal, and 
 unchangeable of the Almighty God, somewhere — Some- 
 where He has appointed a Judgment Seat at whose bar 
 the unpunished criminal shall be judged. 
 
 Anne of Austria, the Queen of France, had in the 
 great Prime Minister Richelieu a relentless enemy. On 
 one occasion, it is said, the queen thus addressed the 
 minister : " My Lord Cardinal, there is one fact which you 
 seem to have entirely forgotten. God is a sure paymaster. 
 He may not pay at the end of every week, or month, or 
 year, but I charge you remember that he pays in the 
 end." Yes, though long delayed, justice shall fall at last. 
 
 A sentiment not unlike this was uttered by the editor 
 of a weekly newspaper in a section of Illinois near 
 which I began my ministry. An infidel farmer in the 
 neighborhood sent to the editor a letter of this substance : 
 " Sir : — I have been trying an experiment. I have a field 
 of Indian corn, which I plowed on Sunday. I planted 
 it on Sunday. I did all the cultivating which it received 
 on Sunday. I gathered the crop on Sunday, and on 
 Sunday hauled it to my barn; and I find that I have 
 more corn to the acre than has been gathered by any of 
 my neighbors during this October." The editor was not 
 
96 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 a religious man ; was rather a rough sort of personage, 
 such as one often meets with in new countries. His 
 general character, indeed, had given the infidel farmer 
 the impression that he might perhaps be in sympathy 
 with his scepticism. In fact, the editor did publish the 
 letter, word for word as it had been written, but under- 
 neath it he placed two index marks, one at the beginning 
 and one at the end of a short line. That line was print- 
 ed in bold-faced capital types, and read thus: "God 
 
 DOES NOT ALWAYS SETTLE HIS ACCOUNTS IN OCTOBER." 
 
 Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding 
 
 small ; 
 Though' with patience lie stands waiting, with exactness grinds 
 
 He all.* 
 
 III. A third lesson from the Scriptural use of hail is 
 that there is no Safety for human souls except beneath 
 the Saving Rule of God. 
 
 One great purpose of Divine judgments is undoubt- 
 edly to awaken the human conscience and turn man 
 from sin unto God. " I smote you with hail," said the 
 Lord unto his people, " and ye turned not to me."f 
 Evidently the purpose of God in this judgment of hail 
 was to turn his people to him, although they refused 
 to learn from the discipline of his hand. The Plague 
 of Hail was* one of those sent upon Pharoah and his 
 kingdom to compel the Egyptians to listen to the voice 
 of God and let his oppressed people go forth into freedom. 
 Moses full\- warned the Egyptian monarch of the coming 
 judgment and bade him and his people provide against 
 it. Some of the subjects of Pharaoh, we are told, were 
 wise enough to make their servants and cattle flee into 
 I s, and thus escaped. But " lie that regarded not 
 
 the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in 
 the lields,"| and the hail smote them both man and 
 beast. The safety of these people lay in their obedience 
 of the will of God. "Only in the land of Goshen where 
 the children of Israel were was there no hail."§ 
 
 II..:. thoroughly this illustrates that blessed Refuge 
 
 * Longfellow. fHaggai ii 17. fExodus ix. 20-21. \ Id. 
 verse 26. 
 
HAIL: GOD'S RESERVES OF WAR. 97 
 
 to Whom we all may flee, and in Whom, we are assured 
 by God's own word, we shall be safe from Divine judg- 
 ment. Christ Jesus is the Refuge of souls. He who by 
 faith commits himself to the sovereign care of the Re- 
 deemer, he who lives in humble following of this Saviour 
 a life of loving obedience and holiness, whatever storms 
 shall beat upon the wicked in the day of judgment — he 
 
 shall be safe. 
 
 "Safe in the arms of Jesus, 
 Safe on his gentle breast." 
 
 Is there no other refuge ? I know of none. Can 
 the soul be safe from Divine judgment outside of Jesus 
 Christ ? I know no other way of safety. " I am the 
 way," said. Jesus. " Neither is there salvation in any. 
 other."* All other refuges are compared by the prophet 
 Ezekielf to a wall daubed with untempered mortar 
 against which " there shall be an overflowing shower, 
 and ye, oh great hailstones shall fall, and the stormy 
 winds shall rend it. And it shall fall and ye shall be 
 consumed in the midst thereof." The prophets who 
 invite weary and sinful souls to take refuge behind such 
 an untempered wall as this are denounced by the 
 Almighty as those who " have seduced my people, say- 
 ing, peace, peace, and there is no peace." Our blessed 
 Saviour himself compared trust in all other hopes and 
 faiths to the action of one who laid a foundation to 
 build a house upon the sands, against which the waves 
 and winds and rains beat, and it fell, and great was the 
 fall thereof. J Once more, Jehovah, through the lips of 
 Isaiah, declares that those who put their trust in other 
 than Himself " have made lies their refuge and have 
 hid themselves under falsehood." " Therefore, thus saith 
 the Lord God, behold I have laid in Zion for a founda- 
 tion stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure 
 foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. 
 And I will make judgment the line, and righteousness 
 the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge 
 of lies." § Thus God sets before the souls of men the 
 
 * Acts iv. 12. f Ch. xiii. 10-12. J Matt. vii. 27. \ Isaiah xxviii. 
 16-17. 
 
98 THE Gt )SPEL IN X. 1 77 T RE. 
 
 folly of seeking refuge from the storms of judgment 
 in fragile hopes, vain delusions, and presumptuous self- 
 confidence, and in the same breath sets before them 
 the one sure Foundation of human trust. To that 
 Foundation I invite you to-day. Flee ! Flee, O sinner, 
 from the impending wrath of God, and build all your 
 hopes for eternity upon Him who is the Chief Stone of 
 the Corner. Who is He ? He is the Christ ! The 
 Messiah of God, who shall help you in the fight against 
 sin, will bruise for you the Dragon's head, and swallow 
 up Death in Victory. 
 
 I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnish'd rows of steel : 
 "As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal ;" 
 "Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, 
 Since God is marching on. 
 
 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ; 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment-seat : 
 Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer him ! be jubilant, my feet ! 
 Our God is marching on.* 
 
 * Mrs. lluwe's " liattlc Hymn of the Republic." 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 Snow Crystals: 
 God as Geometer. 
 
 11 Hast thou entered into the treasuries of the snow ?" 
 — Job xxxviii. 22. 
 
SNOW CRYSTALS : GOD AS GEOMETER. 
 
 The molecules and atoms of all substances when 
 allowed free play have a tendency to definite forms 
 called crystals, which for the most part are very beautiful. 
 The familiar confection known as rock candy is simply a 
 mass of crystals of sugar which have been produced by 
 dissolving the sugar in water and permitting the water 
 to evaporate. Crystals of alum may be produced in 
 the same way, and are familiar objects in druggists' 
 windows. Water, indeed, is almost a universal solvent, 
 and there are but few substances that are not to a 
 greater or less degree dissolved by it. The magnificent 
 crystals which we frequently find in the rocks are 
 formed in almost every case by a deposition of mineral 
 substance from a state of solution in water. Many of 
 the large crystals in cabinets of minerals have been 
 unquestionably thousands of years in formation.* Thus 
 the solvent power of water studs the cavities of 
 rocks with crystal gems. Flints, dissolved as they 
 sometimes are in nature and permitted to crystallize, 
 yield prisms and pyramids of rock crystal. Chalk dis- 
 solved and crystallized yields Iceland spar, and diamonds 
 are crystallized carbon. All our precious stones, ruby, 
 sapphire, beryl, topaz, and emerald are examples of this 
 crystallizing power. 
 
 Snow is simply the vapor of water in a crystallized 
 form. Indeed, the term " crystal " found in most of the 
 European languages is derived from the Greek xpuox allot; 
 {kntstallos), meaning ice or frozen water, and was subse- 
 quently transferred to pure transparent stones cut into 
 seals, which, as was thought, were produced only in the 
 extreme cold of lofty passes of the Alps. The atmos- 
 phere is charged with watery vapor to an immense ex- 
 tent, and when the temperature is sufficiently low to 
 
 * Cooke— " Religion and Cheriiistry," page 156. 
 
 (101) 
 
102 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 freeze this moisture, snow is formed. When produced 
 in calm air the icy particles build themselves into beau- 
 tiful stellar shapes, each star possessing six rays. More 
 fully described, snow crystals are six-pointed stars or 
 hexagonal plates, which exhibit the greatest variety of 
 beautiful forms, one thousand different kinds having 
 been observed. These numerous forms Scoresby re- 
 duced to five principal varieties : (i.) Thin plates, com- 
 prising several hundred forms of the most exquisite 
 beauty; (2.) A nucleus of plane figure, studded with 
 needle-shaped crystals ; (3.) Six-sided, more rarely three- 
 sided, crystals ; (4.) Pyramids of six sides; (5.) Prismatic 
 crystals, having at the ends and middle thin plates per- 
 pendicular to their length. The flakes vary from seven- 
 hundredths of an inch to an inch in diameter, the smallest 
 occurring with low temperatures and the largest when 
 the temperature approaches thirty-two degrees. If the 
 temperature is a little higher, the snow-flakes are par- 
 tially thawed in passing through it, and fall as sleet. 
 
 One who chooses to experiment for himself may catch 
 the falling flakes upon a cold, hand mirror, slate, or a bit 
 of window glass. With an ordinary magnifying lens he 
 can then observe the crystal forms of the flakes, which 
 will commonly have a similar structure in any one snow- 
 fall. Thus examined the water crystals of snow will 
 awaken the utmost admiration for their beauty. How 
 beautiful they are may be seen by examining the figures 
 of them made by Messrs. Scoresby and Glaisher, for the 
 most part, as they are reproduced in various cyclopaedias, 
 commentaries, and works on meteorology.* These forms 
 have been frequently used for decorative purposes, being 
 wrought into the figures on wall paper, prints, laces, and 
 other objects of domestic use. 
 
 It is not, however, from the beauty of snow-crystals 
 that we are to derive the lesson of this lecture, but from 
 the geometrical form of their structure, which I shall 
 take as a type of that order which is everywhere mani- 
 fest in the material world. To this typical character of 
 
 *See Barnes' " Commentary on Job ; " Tyndall's "Forms of 
 Water;" and Chambers' Encyclopaedia, art. Snow; also, the 
 drawings in No. I, of "The Swiss Cross." 
 
SNOW CRYSTALS: GOD AS GEOMETER. 1 03 
 
 snow-flakes Whittier alludes in the description of a snow- 
 storm with which he begins his poem, " Snow-Bound. " 
 
 " In tiny spherule traced with lines 
 Of Nature's geometric signs, 
 In starry flake, and pellicle, 
 All day the hoary meteor fell." 
 
 I. The first and chief lesson which we are to draw out 
 of the Treasury or Storehouse of the snow is the Active 
 Presence in nature of a Divine Orderly Mind. 
 
 The text is a part of that remarkable poetic passage 
 in the book of Job* in which Jehovah responds to the 
 patriarch's plea, "May the Almighty answer me!"f 
 He surprises him with questions which are intended to 
 bring him indirectly to consciousness of the wrong and 
 absurdity of his challenge. In language, not of wrath, 
 but of loving condescension, and yet earnest reproof, 
 he makes the Titan puny in his own eyes, in order to 
 exalt him who is outwardly and inwardly humbled.! 
 Over against the Infinite Power and Wisdom of the 
 Divine working in nature God sets the insignificance of 
 Job's human weakness. Thus, as the vision of the Al- 
 mightiness rounds out larger before the defiant patri- 
 arch's soul, he gets new glimpses and true views of his 
 own littleness. Let us read in the connection of our 
 text a few of these questions which Jehovah put to Job 
 out of the storm : — 
 
 VI. 
 
 22 Hast thou reached to the storehouse of the snow ? 
 Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 
 
 23 Which for the time of trouble I reserve, 
 Against the day of battle and of war ? 
 
 24 Along what track is light distributed ? 
 
 How spreads the east wind o'er the face of earth? 
 
 25 Who cleaves a channel for the flood of rain, 
 And marks a pathway for the thunder-flash, 
 
 26 So that upon the land where no man dwells, 
 The desert tenantless, the rain descends, 
 
 27 To satisfy the waste and wilderness, 
 
 And cause the tender shoot of grass to spring ? 
 
 *Job xxxviii. 22, sqq. f Id:, chap. xxxi. 35. % Delitzsch — 
 Commentary," inloc. 
 
104 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 VII. 
 
 28 Is there a father to the rain ? And who 
 Begetteth to the morn the drops of dew? 
 
 29 Out of whose womb hath issued forth the ice ? 
 And who hath borne the hoar-frost of heaven, 
 
 30 So that the waters harden like the stone, 
 The surface of the deep together cleaves? 
 
 It is still true, as in the days of Humboldt, that among 
 these questions " there are many which the natural phi- 
 losophy of the present day can frame more scientifically 
 but cannot satisfactorily solve."* The question concern- 
 ing the storehouse of the snow, and the formation of 
 crystal within it, is one of these. Crystals maybe seen, 
 as in the time of Leeuwenhock, springing out of solu- 
 tions under the microscope and continuing to increase 
 in size, but the powers that are active escape our notice, 
 and we are still left almost in the same region of specu- 
 lation as our predecessors. We can at this moment 
 form no adequate idea of the complex and beautiful or- 
 ganization of these apparently simple bodies.| 
 
 The physical properties of crystals indicate a close 
 dependence on their geometric character. The same 
 systems shown by their mathematical forms and optic 
 properties reappear in reference to their relations to heat, 
 magnetism, electricity, and other properties. % Let us 
 pursue this fact a little further. We must not weary of 
 the details; the conclusion I trust will repay us for any 
 tediousness in the process by which it is reached. We 
 have seen that when water containing saline matter in 
 solution is allowed to evaporate slowly, the salt it con- 
 tains is thrown down in bodies of peculiar forms, bound- 
 ed by smooth, evejn surfaces meeting in straight lines. 
 We have learned that fused metals consolidating in cer- 
 tain favorable conditions appear as similar bodies ; and 
 that in nature, also, in cracks or fissures of the rocks, or 
 imbedded in their mass, minerals resembling these in 
 form are frequently found. These regul.tr polyhedric or 
 many-sided bodies, whether natural or artificial, we know, 
 
 *Von Humboldt— "Cosmos," II.. page -i s - 1 Crystallography, 
 Ency. Brit, vol. VI., page 675. X /./.. page 677. 
 
SNOW CRYSTALS: GOD AS GEOMETER. 105 
 
 are called crystals, and the science naming and describ- 
 ing the forms they assume, and pointing out the relations 
 that exist among them, is termed crystallography. Now, 
 let us emphasize the fact that in a theoretical point of 
 view this science may be regarded as a branch of Mathe- 
 matics, and might be studied independent altogether of 
 the fact of any material bodies existing in the forms de- 
 scribed. 
 
 It is easy for the least scientific observer to determine 
 for himself that the entire structure of crystals is based 
 upon mathematical laws and relations. Visit the exten- 
 sive collection of minerals in the museum of the Acade- 
 my of Natural Sciences, or in the Vaux Collection under 
 the same roof, or any one of the valuable private collec- 
 tions possessed by gentlemen in our city. The visit, 
 besides affording you a day of exquisite enjoyment in 
 the contemplation of some of nature's most lovely forms, 
 will give you new ideas of the vast variety and infinite 
 wealth of taste manifest in the works of the Creator. 
 You will see at a glance that all these crystal forms are 
 geometric. Angles, edges, and faces will remind you of 
 those forms which, if you have ever studied geometry at 
 all, continually figured upon the pages of your Euclid, 
 and which to-day are familiar in the Kindergartens of 
 our young children. 
 
 Converse for a little while with the mineralogists who 
 own or have studied these specimens ; or, open such a 
 well-known book as Professor Dana's "Mineralogy," and 
 you will find yourself at once overwhelmed with geo- 
 metric terms, which, even should you not happen to 
 comprehend them, will at least give you the undoubted 
 impression that you are greeted with the terms and facts 
 of a mathematical science. You will hear, perhaps, of 
 the nucleus of a crystal, and learn that in fiuor spar the 
 nucleus is an octahedron; in heavy spar, a right prism 
 with rhombic base ; in galena or sulphate of lead, a cube, 
 and so of other substances. You will hear, perhaps, of 
 Haiiy's theory of the structure of crystals ; of six prim- 
 itive forms — the parallelopiped, the octahedron, the tetra- 
 hedron, the regular hexahedron prism, the duodecahedron 
 with equal and similar rhombic faces, and the duode- 
 
106 THE GOSPEL IX NATURE. 
 
 cahedron with triangular faces consisting of two regu- 
 lar six-sided pyramids joined base to base. Proceeding 
 a little further in your study of the growth of the science, 
 you will learn of the theory of Weiss which allows the 
 ascertained knowledge of mathematical laws and rela- 
 tions of crystalline structure tocomeoutpurely. You will 
 hear of the law that the indices marking the relative di- 
 mensions of the pirameters are always rational numbers. 
 In short, you are in a realm of geometry! By whatever 
 energy the objects before you have been formed, it has 
 been operated under mathematical laws, has been sub- 
 servient to mathematical principles. Whence these laws 
 and principles ? How shall we describe that ultimate 
 Power to which they must be traced? How shall we 
 name It? It is mathematical ; is It a Mathematician? 
 It is geometrical ; is It a Geometer ? 
 
 The laws and relations which we observe in crystals 
 are not peculiar to them. In fact, mathematical laws 
 form the basis of nearly all operations of nature. They 
 constitute, as it were, the very framework of the ma- 
 terial world.* Galileo's . discussion of the cycloid 
 proved, long afterward, to be a key to problems concern- 
 ing the pendulum, falling bodies, and resistance to trans- 
 verse pressure. Four centuries before Christ, Plato and 
 his scholars were occupied upon the ellipse as a purely 
 geometric speculation, and Socrates seemed inclined to 
 reprove them for their waste of time. But in the seven- 
 teenth century after Christ, Kepler discovered that the 
 Architect of the heavens had given us magnificent dia- 
 grams of the ellipse in the starry sky; ami, since that 
 time, all the navigation, architecture, and engineering of 
 the nineteenth century have been built on these specula- 
 tions of Plato.f 
 
 The physical universe has perhaps no more general 
 characteristic than this, its laws are mathematical rela- 
 tions. The law of gravitation which rules all masses ol 
 matter, great or small, heavy or light, at all distances, is 
 a definite numerical law. The curves which the heav- 
 enly bodies describe under the influence <<( that law are 
 
 ♦Hitchcock 'Religion ai .iSj. t Profks- 
 
 sok I'iini "Theism," page 368. 
 
SNO W CR YS TALS: GOD AS GEO ME TER. I OJ 
 
 the ellipse, circle, parabola, and hyperbola. Or in other 
 words, they all belong to the class of curves called conic 
 sections, the properties of which mathematicians had be- 
 gun to investigate twenty centuries before Newton. Sir 
 Isaac Newton showed that whatever was true of these 
 curves might be directly transferred to the heavens, 
 since the planets revolve in ellipses, the satellites of 
 Jupiter in circles, and the comets in elliptic, parabolic, 
 and hyperbolic orbits.* The relative intensity of mag- 
 netic attraction is expressed in mathematical terms. f 
 
 The law of chemical combination through which the 
 whole world of matter has been built up out of a few 
 elements always admits of precise numerical expression. 
 Each color in the rainbow is due to a certain number of 
 vibrations in a given time. So is each note in the scale 
 of harmony. Numerical order marks the vegetable king- 
 dom.J 
 
 The "tens of thousands of kinds of plants all harmo- 
 nize with each other, like the parts of concerted music ;"§ 
 the movements of plants and climbing vines are expressed 
 in mathematical terms, such as ellipses, ovals, curves, spi- 
 rals, circular spirals. || The feathers in the wings and tails 
 of birds are numbered.^ A study of the spiral configu- 
 ration of the wing of a bird and its spiral, tail-like, lash- 
 ing movement involves some of the most profound 
 questions in mathematics.** These references might be 
 carried into every department of physics and natural 
 history and multiplied indefinitely. 
 
 Now, if nature had not thus been ruled by numerical 
 laws, the mathematical sciences could not have become, 
 as they are, great instruments of physical investigation. 
 They could not have been applied to the universe at all 
 unless its order had been of the exact numerical and 
 geometrical kind which has been indicated.ft The pro- 
 
 * Professor Newcomb — "Popular Astronomy," page 377. 
 f Quackenboss — "Natural Philosophy," page 338. % McCosh — 
 "Typical Forms in Creation," page 18. \ Professor Asa Gray 
 — " How Plants Grow," page 17. || Darwin — "Power of Move- 
 ment in Plants," pages 1, 2; "Climbing Plants," pages 124, 125. 
 *[ Duke of Argyle — " Reign of Law," page 56. ** Pettigrew — 
 "Animal Locomotion," page 154. ff Professor Flint — "The- 
 ism," page 135. 
 
108 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE; 
 
 phet Isaiah does not exceed the exact statements of 
 modern science when he declares that the waters had 
 been measured in the hollow of the Divine Hand, the 
 heavens meted out as with a span, the dust of the earth 
 comprehended in a measure, the mountains weighed in 
 scales, and the hills in a balance.* 
 
 The science of chemistry, which has appeared upon 
 the scene at a late period as compared with astronomy, 
 mathematics, and geometry, has recently carried its 
 triumphs beyond this world. We know something now 
 of the chemistry of other worlds. The constituents of 
 the sun and stars have been revealed to us through the 
 spectroscope. In those far-away worlds we find the same 
 elements existing that enter into the make-up of our 
 globe. We find those elements operated according to 
 the same general laws. We find, in short, throughout 
 the whole stellar realms, and we may infer also through- 
 out universal space, that order of the strictest kind, the 
 most definite proportions are wrought into the very 
 structure of every world and of every compound in the 
 world, air and water, earth and mineral, plant and ani- 
 mal. Thus, wherever human mind directs its thought, 
 it is brought face to face with the fact that order, math- 
 ematical order, geometric order, pervades all the arrange- 
 ments of the universe. 
 
 Can we forbear to start the question, How came this 
 so? The question forces itself upon us. Reason de- 
 mands an answer, an answer that will satisfy the very 
 conditions of our being as reasoning creatures. Could 
 anything else than intelligence thus weigh, calculate, 
 ure, or number? Could mere matter know the 
 most abstruse properties of space and time and number 
 so as to obey them in the way it docs ? It requires the 
 finest mathematical knowledge to apprehend the rela- 
 tions which exist between the Stellar worlds, and the 
 nature of their movements. How much profounder the 
 skill and learning needed to discover and verify by 
 mathematical science these motions and relations! 
 Could all these have originated with what is ignorant 
 
 * Isai. xl. 12. 
 
SNOIV CRYSTALS: GOD AS GEOMETER. 109 
 
 of quantitative relations ? Shall we stand in the light 
 of these facts and perceive no Mind behind them all ? 
 Is it not one of the plainest conclusions to human rea- 
 son that these objects have all the characteristics of ma- 
 chines, constructed, directed, and maintained in motion 
 by exact mathematical forces, and have been under the 
 influence, at some period, of the Mind of a Geometrician, 
 a Mathematician, a Numberer, and a Calculator ? 
 
 Wherever we see order we infer the presence of mind. 
 If you enter a house, though it be in the loneliest desert, 
 and see around you the many items of domestic comfort 
 and taste which go into the make-up of a modern home, 
 arranged in that exquisite order and delicacy of place- 
 ment and grouping which mark woman's taste within 
 our own homes, what inference would you make ? 
 Surely you would say, " These things did not happen 
 so !" You would not attribute these harmonious rela- 
 tions of one object to another object, of a room to the 
 furniture and appointments of that room, simply to 
 some inherent tendency of the matter within those ar- 
 ticles themselves to thus assume relations ? You would 
 say, " There has been here present a mind, an intelligent 
 personality!" And the attributes of that personality 
 you would probably to some extent rightly infer from 
 the conditions and qualities of the objects upon which 
 you look. Why should you not reason in like manner 
 when you survey through your hand-lens the beautiful 
 forms, the harmonious adjustments, the orderly relations 
 of the snow-crystals, and their various parts ? Whose 
 Mind suggested and enforces that order? 
 
 Suppose, further, that you throw your eye upon a 
 corner of the stairway in our imagined solitary house, 
 and behold standing there a great Dutch clock, its pen- 
 dulum ticking through its arc, its second hand swinging 
 around its circuit, its hour and minute hands in proper 
 place and movement, the mimic moon above the dial 
 showing the exact phase of that satellite, while in an- 
 other corner the day and month are properly indicated. 
 You would hardly say that there was within that clock 
 some inherent quality by which all these delicate adjust- 
 ments and skillful arrangements had been executed. 
 
1 10 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl RE. 
 
 Would the thought ever enter your mind, "This clock 
 simply happened here and so " ? No ! The presence 
 of order, the mechanical obedience to some unseen 
 power which you know to lie within the machinery of 
 the clock, would tell you that there had been present 
 a mind with the sense of proportion and mathematical 
 relations, that that mind had directed the construction 
 of the machine producing before you such accurate and 
 useful reports of time and seasons. 
 
 Why should you reason otherwise when you observe 
 through the help of science the movements of the stellar 
 worlds that whirl in space, — " great clocks of Eternity, 
 which beat ages as ours beat seconds ?" They move on 
 across the dial of the heavens in beautiful harmony, in 
 perfect regularity, throughout orbits and at times which, 
 as we have seen, are adjusted with perfect geometrical 
 accuracy; they are appointed for day and night, for sea- 
 sons ami years, and they roll on unchanged so that seed 
 time and harvest, summer and winter do not fail. Science 
 at such and such a date says they shall be there or here, 
 and at that date they report tnemselves in the places 
 assigned to them. Is it not inevitable that reasoning 
 man must declare that behind this intricate machinery, 
 regulated in such strict mathematical order and by such 
 geometric law, there must have been and there must be 
 a Mind conversant with the laws of mathematics? If 
 the universe were created by an Intelligence conversant 
 with quantitative truth, it is easy to understand, says 
 Professor Flint, why it should be ruled by definitely 
 quantitative laws, but that there should be such laws in 
 a universe that did not originate in Intelligence is not 
 only inexplicable but an inconceivable improbability. 
 Apart from the supposition of the Supreme Intelligence, 
 the chances of disorder againsl order, of chaos against 
 cosmos, "I the numerically indefinite and inconstant 
 
 againsl the definite and constant, must be pronounced all 
 
 but nothing. The belief m a Divine Reason is alone 
 
 Capable of rendering rational the fact that nuthetn 
 truths a: d in the material w orld.* 
 
 * "Theism," page 137. 
 
SNOIV CRYSTALS: GOD AS GEOMETER. 1 1 1 
 
 This is the impartial conclusion of the profoundest 
 thinking upon the latest facts of science by the most 
 vigorous philosophical minds of the present day. It is 
 only an echo of the utterance of one of the earliest med- 
 itations upon a like theme, that of Canon Derham, who 
 a century and a quarter ago made this observation : — 
 " That every Planet should have as many, and various 
 Motions, and those as regularly, and well-contrived and 
 ordered, as the World and its Inhabitants have Occasion 
 for, what could all this be but the Work of a wise and 
 kind, as well as omnipotent Creator, and Orderer of 
 the World's Affairs? A Work which is as plain a Sig- 
 nal of God, as that of a Clock, or other Machine is of 
 Man."* 
 
 " It is impossible," says the great philosopher, Imman- 
 uel Kant.f " to contemplate the fabric of the world with- 
 out recognizing the admirable order of its arrangement, 
 and the certain manifestation of the Hand of God in the 
 perfection of its correlations. Reason, when once it has 
 considered and admired so much beauty and so much 
 perfection, feels a just indignation at the dauntless folly 
 which dares ascribe all this to chance and a happy acci- 
 dent. It must be that the Highest Wisdom conceived 
 the plan, and Infinite Power carried it into execution." 
 Kant has not always been credited with entertaining 
 views so sound as these upon this fundamental principle 
 of Theology. Perhaps, therefore, all the more readily I 
 may obtain through the great philosopher a hearing for 
 the truth, which many men might deny to a humble 
 minister of the Gospel. Hear him further: — 
 
 " All things which set forth reciprocal harmonies in 
 nature must be bound together in a single Existence 
 on which they collectively depend. Thus there exists 
 a Being of all beings, an Infinite Understanding and a 
 Self-existent Wisdom, from which nature, in the whole 
 aggregate of her correlations, derives existence. Fur- 
 ther, it is not allowable to maintain that the activity 
 
 * Canon Derham— "Astro-Theology," page 73. London, A. D. 
 i75S. ( f "General History of Nature," quoted in Professor Winch- 
 ell's "World-Life; or, Comparative Geology, " where an admir- 
 able abstract of this valuable essay will be found. 
 
I i 2 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tf'RE. 
 
 of nature is prejudicial to the existence of a Highest 
 Being; the more perfect it is in its developments, the 
 b« tter its genera] laws contribute to order and harmony, 
 the more conclusive is the demonstration of the God- 
 head from whom these relations are borrowed. His 
 productiveness is no longer the operation of chan> 
 the consequence of accident; from Him flows every- 
 thing according to unalterable laws, which, therefore, 
 must produce only what is fit, because they are only the 
 reflection of a scheme infinitely wise, from which all 
 disorder is banished. It is not the fortuitous concourse 
 of the atoms of Lucretius which has builded the world, 
 implanted forces and laws whose source is the wisest 
 Understanding, and have been the unvarying cause of 
 that order which can only flow from them, not by 
 chance but by Ordination."* 
 
 II. Our second lesson from the snow-crystals is a 
 practical one. Let us imitate the Great Creator in 
 Faithful Doing of all Life's Work and Duty 
 
 The simplest creatures of the Divine Hand and the 
 minutest details of their structure are not deemed un- 
 worthy of Infinite Power. Who could have thought 
 these crystals of the snow-storm worthy of such care ? 
 Only a snow-flake ! Is it not a waste of beauty? What un- 
 numbered myriads <>t them are floating there through the 
 skies! How they blanket the fields ; drift in great banks 
 along the fences and railway tracks ; fill the ravines in the 
 hills; pack the gorges of the mountain ; and lieheapson 
 heaps upon tin- highest summits! Surely, as we think 
 of the seeming wastage < >fbeauty, we may sing over these 
 flowers of the snow, these crystal gems of the winter 
 storm, as Gray sang in his " Elegy: " — 
 
 I'ull many a gem of puresl ray HTcnr 
 
 l In- dark unfathom'd < ■<■ in bear ; 
 
 Full many a flower is born t<> blush un 
 Ami waste its SW< the desert air. 
 
 Y< ! Thi fl ' the snow, these gems of the 
 
 winter storm, God has wrought out with as careful touch 
 
 "Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie dea 1 Una- 
 rm K" page 3 '5. sqq- 
 
SNOW CRYSTALS: GOD AS GEOMETER. 113 
 
 as the Victoria Regia of the Nile or the twinkling lustre 
 of Venus, the Evening Star. 
 
 Our wonder is still more awakened when we remem- 
 ber what force is pnt into the creation of every one of 
 these snow-flakes. A learned naturalist has declared that 
 to produce from the vapor of water a quantity of snow- 
 flakes which a child could carry, would demand energy 
 competent to gather up the shattered blocks of the largest 
 stone avalanche of the Alps, and pitch them twice the 
 height from which they fell. If a single baby handful 
 require such force for its creation, what power must have 
 been put forth to produce the thick blanketing of snow 
 that lies upon the Northland, from mountain top to 
 valley, during the winter season? Indeed, this is a very 
 wonderful reflection. Yet, it is not the thought of reck- 
 less waste that comes to me; not the suggestion that this 
 is but the play of blind Titans, giants of force, throwing 
 away their might in these careless disportings, as little 
 thoughtful of the results of work or play as a sporting 
 group of children. Rather I see in this that infinite ex- 
 actness in the smallest details of nature's work which 
 marks the structure of everything whether organic or 
 inorganic. Here I learn that what is worth doing at 
 all is worth doing well. And it is worth well doing for 
 the sake of well doing, because perfection is a quality of 
 the noblest mind, and above all is the quality of the In- 
 finite Mind; and therefore the works of the Divine 
 Hand must in themselves be perfect. 
 
 Is it your lot in life to labor in wood, or stone, or iron, 
 or paper, or cloth, or other material or fabric? See to 
 it that in imitation of the infinite Architect and all-wise 
 Artisan, you carry with you to your toil a sense of joy 
 and pride in your labor. Cherish the desire and purpose 
 to do your best for the sake of doing your best, to pro- 
 duce the most perfect work, not simply because it pays, 
 not simply because you are under pecuniary obligations 
 so to do, but because in the exercise of your noblest 
 manhood and womanhood you esteem it a part of your 
 life to make your life's products as near perfection as 
 your conditions and abilities will allow. I never knew a 
 good mechanic who was not proud of what he is pleased 
 
I 14 THE GOSPEL IN NA TL A'/;. 
 
 to call his "job," and who did not work upon it conscien- 
 tiously, lovingly, framing it to the best of his lofty ideal 
 even though he should receive for it no extra pay and no 
 extra prai . 
 
 To such a man or woman the satisfaction of doing 
 good work is a part of his reward. The careless worker 
 is never happy in his toil. His slipshod structures and 
 slighted jobs can carry no lofty pleasure to his mind. 
 His ideal is lost. He labors simply with "eye service" 
 as a man pleaser. He does not strike with hammer, or 
 shove plane and saw, or hold the plow, or drive the 
 shuttle, or draw thread and needle, or swing mallet to 
 chisel, or wield yardstick and scissors, or push the pen, 
 or do whatever work as unto God, knowing that He, the 
 Master Worker Divine, before whom all men and their 
 work must stand in judgment, in making the smallest 
 product of nature leaves upon it the stamp of minutest 
 care. 
 
 III. Our last lesson is one of Faith and Comfort in 
 the Assurance of our Heavenly Father's Care. 
 
 Recently I looked into the Last Journals of David 
 Livingstone, that hero ami martyr of modern missions, 
 1 tify a reference to a simple point of natural history, 
 md the allusion which I sought — an observation 
 upon the habits of African sunbirds, who use the spin- 
 ning work of spiders to make their little nests. Upon 
 page immediately following this reference to 
 the spider, a creature so commonly despised and deemed 
 unworthy of the slightest human sympathy, 1 read these 
 
 word-, written in the heart of the dark continent, which 
 hoit time received to itself its noblest sacrifice, the 
 life <>f the venerable man. 
 
 "What i the atonement of Christ? It is Himself: 
 
 It is the inherent and everlasting mercy of Cod made 
 apparent to human eyes and ears. The everlasting 1 
 
 ; by our Lord's lite and death. It si: 
 
 that God forgiv< . b cause he loves to forgive. He 
 
 works by smiles if possible, if not by frowns; pain is 
 only a means of enforcing love. 
 
 "If we speak of strength, lol He is strong. The 
 
SNOIV CRYSTALS: GOD AS CEO METER. 115 
 
 Almighty ; the Over-power ; the Mind of the universe. 
 The heart thrills at the idea of his greatness. All the 
 great among men have been remarkable at once for the 
 grasp and minuteness of their knowledge. Great astron- 
 omers seem to know every iota of the knowable. The 
 great Duke, when at the head of armies, could give all 
 the particulars to be observed in a cavalry charge, and 
 took care to have food ready for all his troops. Men 
 think that greatness consists in lofty indifference to all 
 trivial things. The Grand Llama, sitting in immovable 
 contemplation of nothing, is a good example of what a 
 human mind would regard as majesty ; but the Gospels 
 reveal Jesus, the manifestation of the blessed God over 
 all, as minute in his care of all. He exercises a vigilance 
 more constant, complete, and comprehensive, every hour 
 and every minute, over each of his people than their 
 utmost self-love could ever attain. His tender love is 
 more exquisite than a mother's heart can feel."* 
 
 Is not this also a most inspiring truth : He so clothes 
 the lilies of the field that they outvie in beauty Solo- 
 mon's imperial robes. Not a sparrow shall fall without 
 our Father. He builds the crystal structure of the 
 snow-flake as carefully as he rounds out the proportions 
 of the mightiest sun. He colors the insect, whose 
 painted wing is expanded within the solitudes of a Bra- 
 zilian forest, as carefully as he tints the glory of the 
 Moon, that shines in the face of all mankind. Is not 
 man, the crown of Creation's work, equally a subject 
 of the Creator's care ? Surely, surely ! Yes, how much 
 more, is the conclusion of the blessed Lord, shall he 
 care for you, oh, ye of little faith ! No man is so insig- 
 nificant among his fellows; no life is so obscure in the 
 multitude of pushing life forces of this great world ; no 
 child is so small, so weak, so poor; no plan for honest 
 work is so limited in its sphere, — as to lie outside of the 
 benevolent thought and helping force of the Almighty 
 Father. Who need despair with a truth like this writ- 
 ten on his heart? Who need hesitate to engage in 
 labor for the advancement of mankind, with encouraging 
 
 * Livingstone — "Last Journals," page 451 
 
Il6 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 facts like these shining before him on the Inspired Page, 
 set in the heavens everywhere around him, and show- 
 ering upon him in the winter storm, out of the Crystal 
 Treasures of the show? "Consider the lilies of the 
 field," said Jesus. The fields are lying white to-day 
 with their lilies locked up in their bosoms. But con- 
 sider the lilies of the sky, the beautiful crystals of snow, 
 and they will teach you the same lesson of the All-fath- 
 er's love and tenderest care. 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 Snow Beds: 
 The Uses of Adversity. 
 
 6. For He saitJi to the snow, Fall thou on the earth, 
 i j. Whether it be for correction, or for his land, 
 Or for mercy, that He cause it to come." 
 
 — Job xxxvii. 6, 13. 
 
SNOW-BEDS : THE USES OF ADVERSITY. 
 
 By the term snow-beds as used in this lecture I ex- 
 press the covering of snow which during the winter 
 remains in greater or less thickness upon the ground. 
 There is at least one Scriptural reference to the formation 
 of these beds, although the passage is regarded by com- 
 mentators as somewhat obscure. In the war song and 
 victory hymn given in the sixty-eighth Psalm there is 
 this striking and somewhat puzzling allusion to snow. 
 
 13 When ye bivouac among the sheep folds 
 
 It is as the dove's wings covered with silver, 
 And her feathers with glistening gold. 
 
 14 When the Almighty scattered kings therein 
 It is as when it snovveth in Zalmon. 
 
 The first figure is one of peace. The Israelites are 
 viewed in their night bivouac among the folds of sheep, 
 and the joy of their prosperity and ease is compared to 
 the varied hues of a dove disporting in the sun. In 
 contrast with this peaceful rural scene is drawn an image 
 of war. Israel's enemies are routed. The vast army is 
 seen scattered over the heights of Zalmon ; the shining 
 armor of the fleeing soldiers, compared, as in the 
 Homeric figure, to the snow,* is likened to the tumultu- 
 ous rushing of snow-flakes through the air; and the 
 glistening helmets, shields, and spears cast away upon 
 the ground are likened to the snow-beds after a storm 
 whitening the face of the mountain. 
 
 The formation of these snow-beds has been well de- 
 scribed by one of our own poets : — 
 
 The snow had begun in the gloaming, 
 
 And busily all the night 
 Had been heaping field and highway 
 
 With a silence deep and white. 
 
 Every pine, and fir, and hemlock 
 
 Wore ermine too dear for an earl, 
 And the poorest twig on the elm-tree 
 
 Was ringed inch-deep with pearl. 
 
 * Iliad, xix. 357-361. 
 
 (119) 
 
1 20 THE GOSPEL IX NA Tl T RE. 
 
 From sheds new-roofed with Carrara 
 
 Came chanticleer's muffled crow, 
 The stiff rails were soften'd to swan's-down, 
 
 And still lluttered down the snow.* 
 
 The advantage of these beds or blanketings of snow 
 is in a measure apprehended, but there are few persons 
 who really estimate in full their value to the soil and to 
 mankind at large. A few facts briefly stated must suffice 
 to uncover this truth. Most of you are familiar with 
 what is known as snow-crust. In our own latitude of 
 Philadelphia it may be occasionally seen in open fields. 
 But in more northern sections, as New England, north- 
 ern New York, and Canada, a crust forms upon the sur- 
 face of the snow and remains during the greater portion 
 of the year. What has formed that crust ? "It is frozen 
 water, to be sure, thawed out from the snow on a bright 
 day." Such is the common thought. Some portion of 
 the crust may be attributed to this cause, but for the 
 most part it is probably produced by the moisture of the 
 air which is precipitated upon it, precisely as dew is 
 formed upon the cold earth in summer. In other words, 
 whenever the humidity of the atmosphere in contact 
 with snow is above the point of saturation at the temper- 
 ature to which the air is cooled by such contact, the 
 superfluous moisture is absorbed by the snow or con- 
 densed and frozen upon its surface.f This of course 
 adds to the winter supply of water received from the 
 snow by the ground, and no doubt far exceeds the 
 amount which is lost by evaporation from the surface of 
 the snows. 
 
 A second fact is to be noted. Snow is of a color un- 
 favorable for the radiation of heat. It follows that when 
 heavy beds are laid upon the earth they act precisely as 
 do bed-coverings or clothes to the human body. The 
 warmth of the covered soil is kept within itself. More- 
 over, to some extent the raysof the sun penetrate the snow 
 even when it is of considerable thickness. From these 
 
 two facts results a third fact; viz., that the upper or sur- 
 face stratum of the ground, even though it be frozen at 
 
 Mami s kt sski 1. Lowell— "The First Snow-Fall." t Marsh 
 — "'The Earth as Modified by Human Action," page 209. 
 
SNO W-BEDS: THE USES OF AD VERSITY. I 2 1 
 
 the first fall of the snow, is soon thawed out and does not 
 again fall below the freezing point during the winter, at 
 least while the snow lasts. In Vermont, for four succes- 
 sive days of one winter, the temperature immediately- 
 above the snow was thirteen degrees below zero. Be- 
 neath the snow, which was four inches deep, the temper- 
 ature was nineteen degrees above zero, a difference of 
 thirty-two degrees within four or five inches of space. 
 Under a drift of snow two feet deep the temperature 
 was twenty-seven degrees above zero, thus making 
 a difference of forty degrees, showing that the soil be- 
 neath the snow-beds was from thirty-two to forty de- 
 grees warmer than the temperature of the air.* The 
 value of this fact in preserving the life and vigor of 
 plants is at once apparent. It is for this reason that 
 in the borders and glades of our American woods and 
 forests violets and other small plants begin to vegetate 
 as soon as the snow has thawed the soil around their 
 roots, and they are not unfrequently found in full flower 
 under two or three feet of snow.f 
 
 A third fact is now to be considered. The layer of 
 snow lying nearest to the soil, having a heavy bed above 
 it with its enclosing crust, soon begins, to melt. This 
 process continues more or less abundantly according to 
 the temperature during the winter. What becomes of 
 the water thus formed ? It is slowly imbibed by the 
 vegetable mould, sinks into the under surface of the 
 earth, and finds its way into the springs and streams 
 which are the sources of our creeks and rivers. Very 
 little water runs off in the winter by superficial water- 
 courses, except in rare cases of sudden thaw, and there 
 can be no question that much the greater part of the 
 snow deposited, in the forests at least, is slowly melted 
 and absorbed by the earth. It is questionable whether 
 the snow in certain latitudes has not as much to do with 
 the fertility of the land and fullness of the springs and 
 water-courses as the rain. The rains of summer coming 
 with sudden dash run away from the soil faster than the 
 ground can imbibe them ; but it is not so with the snow. 
 
 * Reports Department Agriculture, 1872, May and June, f Amer- 
 ican Naturalist, May, 1869, page 155-6. 
 
122 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 It lies in beds upon the top of the ground, and, as we 
 have seen, the process of infiltration continues the win- 
 ter through. Thus the moisture precipitated throughout 
 winter months in the form of snow is imbibed by the 
 earth in far greater proportion than are the rains of 
 summer. This fact was not unknown to the writers of 
 Holy Scripture. The prophet Isaiah alludes to it in the 
 familiar verse: " For as the rain cometh down and the 
 snow from heaven and returneth not thither till it has 
 moistened the earth and fertilized it and made it green, 
 and offered seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so 
 will my word be which goeth forth out of my mouth."* 
 It is a striking evidence of the closeness and accuracy 
 of the prophet's observation of nature that- he should 
 thus have given snow a place side by side with rain in 
 watering and fertilizing the earth, a position upon which 
 few of us, perhaps, would have ventured. 
 
 I. The first and chief lesson which we are to learn 
 from Beds of Snow is conveyed in the old adage — 
 Sweet are the Uses of Adversity. 
 
 From its loose texture and from the fact that it con- 
 tains several times its bulk of air, snow is a very bad 
 conductor of heat. It is ranked with wool among the 
 poorest of conductors, and thus it forms an admirable 
 covering for the ground from the effects of radiation. 
 It is relatively as warm to the earth in its thick en- 
 swathemcnt of white packed crystals as is the softest 
 wool to the human body. It has happened not unfre- 
 quently in times of great cold that the soil is forty 
 degrees warmer than the surface of the overlying snow. 
 These facts will suffice to show the value of the snowy 
 mantle which God sends to the earth during the severe 
 frosts of winter. Yet, as a rule, those who live in cities 
 can hardly be said to welcome with much enthusiasm 
 the coming of a heavy snow-storm. 
 
 It is indeed a beautiful sight when the white Hakes 
 tumble through the air, and fall softly, eddying, sport- 
 ing, rising, and sinking ere they drop upon their final 
 
 * Isaiah lv. io, n. 
 
SNOW-BEDS: THE USES OF ADVERSITY. 123 
 
 resting-place. It is not an unpleasant sight presented 
 by streets and houses when whitened over with the first 
 clean flakes. They hide away for the moment the foul- 
 ness of our streets, and all the uncouth, ungraceful, and 
 repulsive objects that so frequently greet our city-en- 
 vironed eyes. The snow will stir a momentary joy in 
 the city maiden's heart as visions of sleigh ride and 
 toboggan slide dance through her brain. The school- 
 boy is filled with enthusiasm as the circling crystals 
 greet his vision through school-room windows. 
 
 " It snows ! " cries the schoolboy, " Hurrah ! " and his shout 
 
 Is ringing through parlor and hall, 
 While swift as the wing of a swallow he's out, 
 
 And his playmates have answered his call ; 
 It makes the heart leap but to witness their joy ; 
 
 Proud wealth has no pleasure, I trow, 
 Like the rapture that throbs in the pulse of the boy 
 
 As he gathers his treasures of snow. 
 
 Nevertheless, to the great mass of dwellers within city 
 walls, snow is an unmitigated nuisance. It blocks up 
 the tramways, the cable tracks, the lines of transporta- 
 tion and business. It becomes trampled and soiled in a 
 little while, and lies along the edges of the pavements 
 in great winrows that day by day grow more unlovely 
 to the eyes as the sweeping machines pile upon them the 
 accumulated filth of the streets. We could easily spare 
 the snow from our city limits. But beyond city walls 
 the farmer and gardener look upon the falling flakes with 
 different feelings. As they come flying through the air 
 and slowly gather upon fields of grain and meadows 
 of grass, and pack around the roots of growing trees in 
 nursery and orchard, the agriculturist is glad. His 
 farm is not as beautiful to your eyes as in the freshness 
 of the early spring, or the maturity of summer's beauty, 
 but the farmer will tell you that his grain and grass lie 
 snugly beneath the snow through the whole winter, 
 quite protected from the sharp frosts. When the sun 
 gains strength in the spring time, and the warm currents 
 flow once more through the earth, and the snow is 
 melted and gone, up spring the tender blades. Then, 
 when harvest is over, well-packed hay-mows and 
 
124 THE GOSPEL IX NATURE. 
 
 granaries heaped with yellow grain tell that the cheer- 
 less-looking snow was after all a kindly friend to the 
 farmer. 
 
 It has served the florist quite as well, for underneath 
 its fleecy beds the flower plants have snugly slept and 
 prepared them for their early spring awakening. Our 
 Quaker poet voiced this fact in his beautiful apostrophe 
 to the snow. 
 
 Fill soft and deep, O winter snow, 
 
 The sweet azalea's oaken dells, 
 And hide the bank where roses blow, 
 
 And swung the azure bells ! 
 
 O'erlay the amber violet's leaves, 
 The purple aster's brook-Mtle home, 
 
 Guard all the flowers her pencil gives ■ 
 A life beyond their bloom. 
 
 And she, when spring comes round again, 
 By greening slope and singing flood 
 
 Shall wander, seeking, not in vain, 
 Her darlings of the wood.* 
 
 It is often thus with the soul, upon whom fall the 
 trials and sorrows of this earthly career. " Now no 
 affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous, but 
 grievous ; nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth peaceable 
 fruits." The experience of men asserts it to be true 
 that burdens on the human heart, like snow-beds on the 
 breast of meadow, field, and orchard, prevent radiation 
 of the soul's warmth ; retain within the heart the graces 
 and blessings of the spiritual life; save the soul from 
 chilling amidst the cold currents of worldliness and self- 
 ishness, and make the nature rich and fertile with the 
 blessings of a holy life. 
 
 A distinguished naturalist has been recently reported 
 as declaiming against the character of God, as it is wit- 
 nessed in the life of living creatures. Suffering so pre- 
 dominates from the lowest organization to the highest; 
 there are so many scenes that stir one's pity as he be- 
 holds, that the question will start up, how can these 
 things be beneath the dominion of an all-merciful Crea- 
 tor? Passing into the sphere of human life one sees not 
 
 ♦John Greenleai" Whittiek — " Fluwers in Winter." 
 
SNO U -BEDS: THE USES OF AD VERSITY. 1 2 5 
 
 only those physical sufferings by which man is allied to 
 the lower animals, but also those mental and spiritual 
 conflicts and griefs which seem to be reserved for him 
 alone by reason of those endowments which make him 
 more sensitive to both pleasure and pain. Surely the 
 Christian philosopher needs to ponder but a moment a 
 difficulty like this, as far, at least, as it relates to men. 
 The answer springs readily to. his heart and tongue, 
 "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."* "Consider 
 in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the 
 Lord chasteneth thee."f " Furthermore, we had the 
 fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them rever- 
 ence ; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto 
 the Father of spirits, and live ? For they verily for a few 
 days chastened us as seemed good to them ; but he for 
 our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All 
 chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous, but 
 grievous ; yet afterwards it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto 
 them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of 
 righteousness. Wherefore lift up the hands that hang 
 down, and the palsied knees; and make straight paths 
 for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out 
 of the way, but rather be healed."! 
 
 To the Christian, development of a holy character 
 after the likeness of the eternal God is the chief end of 
 all things. Nature's noblest efforts look toward man 
 himself. Man stands at the apex of the zoological pyr- 
 amid. All life centres towards him ; types and shadows 
 of the past; typical forms of being; the physical out- 
 come of all the convulsions and changes of the geologic 
 ages ; the processes by which the surface of the earth 
 was diversified and made a fitting home for man ; the 
 excess of vegetation in the carboniferous era by which 
 the treasures of coal were locked up within the earth's 
 surface to await man's use and forward the highest de- 
 velopment of his character and abilities, § all these, and 
 all other things seem to have been wrought out with a 
 view to the introduction upon the scene of that which is 
 nature's sublimest product — man himself. These and 
 
 * Heb. xii. 6. f Deut. - viii. 5. \ Heb. xii. 9-13. \ McCosh and 
 Dickie — "Typical Forms," page 350. 
 
i 2( - THE Gi )SPEL IN X. 1 TURE. 
 
 multitudes of other arrangements, collocations, struc- 
 tures, and products of a useful and beneficent character, 
 are SO man}' indications that during the long proo 
 the world's fitting up, while yet the human era was con- 
 templated as we contemplate the millennium, Man, the 
 nature < >f Man, and the wants of Man, constituted at 
 one of the objective points of cycles of geological pre- 
 paration.* Even the evolutionary philosophers recog- 
 nize this fact, and are ready to assert that the noblest 
 outcome of the claimed processes of evolution is the 
 human species; that Man is the consummate fruition of 
 creative energy, and the chief object of Divine care.f 
 Now, as in nature the greatest of all things is man, so in 
 mail the greatest of all things is the immortal soul. 
 Shall we accept the thought that nature lias labored so 
 long toward the development of his physical being and 
 refuse the reflection that the spiritual nature of man is 
 worthy of the richest endowments and highest develop- 
 ment at whatever cost? In point of fact it is true that 
 the highest spiritual as well as the highest physical is 
 procured at the heaviest cost, is the outcome of convul- 
 sions, struggles, pains. 
 
 There are few who will question the statement that 
 discipline is good for nations and the race at large. 
 
 The lands familiar with snow rear the hardiest chil- 
 dren. The discipline that comes through a conflict with 
 winter and storm develops the manly and womanly vir- 
 tues into vigorous action. A nature too rich, too prod- 
 igal of her gifts, does not compel man to snatch from 
 her his daily bread by his daily toil. A regular climate, 
 the ab f a dormant season, render forethought of 
 
 little use to him; nothing invites him to that struggle of 
 intelligence against nature, which raises the forces of 
 
 man t<> -<> high a pitch'. Thus he never dreams • 
 sisting this all powerful physical nature; heisconq 
 by her; he submits to the yoke, and becomes again the 
 animal man, in proportion as he abandons himseil to 
 these influem tful of his high mora! destination. 
 
 In the temperate climates all is activity, movement The 
 
 |- -. rcHBLi "Sk. t< hes of Creati ■•• 336. 
 
 (•Profi ssor Fiske— "The I >< -tiny .'i Man," page 111. 
 
SNOW-BEDS: THE USES OF ADVERSITY. 127 
 
 alternations of heat and cold, the changes of the seasons, 
 a fresher and more bracing air, incite man to a constant 
 struggle, to forethought, to the vigorous employment of 
 all his faculties.* 
 
 Narrowing, now, the sphere of our application, we ob- 
 serve that it is good for man to bear the yoke in his 
 youth. f There are many persons prominent to-day in 
 the circles of human activity who can trace back their 
 productive power in society, their usefulness among their 
 fellows, the growth and nurture of their intellects and 
 abilities into those proportions which have given them 
 fame and made them a blessing, to the hard apprentice- 
 ship of trial, buffeting, and struggle which in earlier life 
 disciplined their powers. 
 
 Plants reared with tenderness are seldom strong ; 
 Man's coltish disposition needs a thong ; 
 And without discipline the foolish child, 
 Like a neglected forester, runs wild.J 
 
 Is not this also true in the development of a moral 
 character, or a spiritual life? Has not the history of the 
 Church borne testimony time and again to the truth that 
 persecution has been a purifier? That the tempests 
 which have beaten upon the growing plants of faith have 
 only caused them to root themselves more firmly and 
 lay faster hold upon the eternal Rock ? That the winds 
 of trial which have swept the face of Christendom have 
 only borne aloft the seeds of truth as a summer zephyr 
 scatters the downy seeds of the dandelion, and have scat- 
 tered them over the face of the earth to find lodging and 
 become the centres of a new and better life ? The blood 
 of the martyrs has ever been the seed of the Church! 
 
 The influence of trial in developing the spiritual 
 character of the sufferer is not the only benefit which we 
 may discern. Its reflex influence upon society is very 
 great. How often has the influence of an invalid in the 
 home circle caused the development of the noblest form 
 of manhood and the sweetest virtues of womanhood in 
 those members of the household whose thoughts have 
 
 * Guyot — " Earth and Man," page 269. f Lamentations iii. 27. 
 X Cowper. 
 
128 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE, 
 
 been centred upon the suffering one ! What has done 
 so much to develop the true Christian character of men 
 and women til Christian lands, as those noble institutions 
 of charity provided for all forms of suffering humanity? 
 Our hospitals, asylums, homes, institutions, refuges, re- 
 treat-, orphanages, and societies well-nigh without num- 
 ber, are among the most beautiful evidences of the loving 
 hearts and noble instincts of our people, but they all 
 have their growth and development around the fact of 
 human misery. Self-denial, compassion, philanthropy, 
 generosity, charity — these are graces most lovely to be- 
 hold, which enfold with their sweetest charm the sons 
 and daughters of our generation and our faith. But how 
 could they be — would they be? — were it not for those 
 trials on the part of their fellow-creatures which have 
 opened up the fountains of sympathy and caused those 
 streams to gush forth, which have watered the garden of 
 the heart, and made it bloom with heavenly charity? So 
 far then as man himself is concerned, it seems to me that 
 it is a sufficient answer to all objections to the Divine ad- 
 ministration of this world raised from the standpoint of 
 human misery, to say that suffering is a discipline of 
 good; that sorrows and trials are but the snows of 
 winter storms, that pack the fields of human life, pre- 
 serving them from spiritual sterility and the binding 
 frosts of selfishness and unbelief. 
 
 II. Our second lesson from the Snow-Beds is simply 
 an outgrowth of our first thought, namely, the Strength 
 and Beauty of 1 (ome Life. 
 
 In the book of Proverbs we have a remarkable poet- 
 ical description of a thrifty and virtuous housewife, 
 which is attributed to the mother ^\ Lemuel. In the 
 course of the poem occurs the stanza: — 
 
 Sin- is nol afraid of the snow f<<r her household, 
 all In r household are clothed with scarli i. ' 
 
 In other words, this wise, loving, and industrious 
 woman had foreseen the time of the snow, and provided 
 againsl its rigors the warm clothing necessary for her 
 
 * Pruv. xxxi. 21. 
 
SNOW-BEDS: THE USES OE ADVERSITY. 129 
 
 family. The necessity that compelled such action was 
 largely instrumental in calling into play and in strength- 
 ening the home virtues here celebrated. Such characters 
 as this woman are most common in lands where snow 
 falls. Winter is the creator of home, and the sweetest 
 home-life is fostered by the frosts of the Northland. 
 Home-life grows and thrives best in the light and 
 warmth of the fireside. 
 
 "Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, 
 Arrives the snow ; and, driving o'er the fields 
 Seems nowhere to alight ; the whited air 
 Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven 
 And veils the farm-house at the garden's end. 
 The sled of the traveler stopped, the courier's feet 
 Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates meet 
 Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed 
 In a tumultuous privacy of storm."* 
 
 This " tumultuous privacy of storm," winter's rio-or 
 thus brings with it the advantage that it draws menlnd 
 women m-doors, fosters home life, develops home vir- 
 tues, throws man upon his inward resources, strength- 
 ening his intellectual and spiritual life, and thus develops 
 nobler characters both in women and men. I believe it 
 may be asserted that the strongest and loveliest charac- 
 ters, and I might add the strongest and best govern- 
 ments, are found amongst those nations who have the 
 profoundest insight of the benefits of Home. It is a 
 matter for sincere congratulation that American men 
 are in such large proportion men of domestic habits 
 While this fact remains I shall not despair of the Re- 
 public. The brightest spot left to man, since Paradise 
 was lost through sin, is his own fireside. At the hearth- 
 stone which glows with the light of earthly affection 
 sanctified by a Heavenly Love, there, if ever, Paradise 
 is regained on earth. 
 
 Let us count it then as one of the most valuable inci- 
 dental results of the rigors of winter, when the world is 
 made inhospitable by the beds of snow lying on forest 
 and field, that men are driven to build themselves altars 
 at the Fireside of Home. 
 
 * Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 
 a 
 
1 30 THE G( >SPEL IN NA 11 A7 . 
 
 III. We arc t< > can)- our lesson still further, and 
 learn that these Life-Rigors and Trials, of which the 
 Snow-Beds are emblems, prepare us for and open the 
 way for us to the Heavenly Home. 
 
 Life itself will bring healing to main - wounds of death, 
 and there are griefs which Time, dropping moment 
 moments into the scar, will cover over, as the snow-beds 
 cover the fields. Lowell has very sweetly uttered this 
 thought : — 
 
 I stood and watched by tin- window 
 
 The noiseless work of the sky. 
 And the sudden flurries of snow-birds, 
 
 Like brown leaves whirling by. 
 
 I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn-, 
 
 Where a little headstone st<»>d ; 
 1 [< .'.v the flakes were folding it gently, 
 
 As did robins the babes in the wood. 
 
 Up spoke our own little Mabel, 
 Saying, "Father, who makes it snow?" 
 
 And' 1 told of the good all-Father, 
 Who cares for us here below. 
 
 in I looked at the snowfall, 
 And thought of the leaden sky 
 That arched o'er our first great sorrow, 
 When that mound was heaped so high. 
 
 1 rem. -nil" r.-d the gradual patience 
 That fell from that (loud like snow, 
 
 Rake by flake, healing and hiding 
 The scar o! our deep-plunged w< 
 
 And again to the child I whispered, 
 
 " The snow that husheth all, 
 I darling, the merciful Father 
 
 Alone can make it fall !"* 
 
 But there are wounds which life and time cannot heal; 
 th.it w ill not be hushi d ; scars that cann< »t be a <\ 
 ered save as Heaven casts the mantle of Divine conso- 
 lation thereon. 
 
 king form which snow-beds take is that of the 
 
 glacier. This is the nam.- given to an immense mass ol 
 moving snow and ice. Tl ier is in fact a river ol 
 
 i( .-, w In is the -now -, that, .summer and win- 
 
 *j.v ll— "The First Snow-Fall." 
 
SNOW-BEDS: THE USES OF ADVERSITY. 131 
 
 ter alike, fall upon lofty mountain summits. In process 
 of time the snow becomes hard-packed, and by reason of 
 great pressure and alternate thawing and freezing is solid- 
 ified, so that as it passes gradually into the valley, it goes 
 down as a rugged river of frozen snow and ice held within 
 the walls of mountain gorges, as a stream of water runs 
 between its banks. 
 
 The melting of the ice on the surface of the glacier 
 produces streams whose course is often broken by crev- 
 asses, or deep cliffs, down which the water descends, and 
 after being increased by like rivulets, it issues at last as 
 a stream, or creek, or river, through the cavernous mouth 
 of the vault at the termination of the glacier. Thus these 
 strange phenomena of nature have their origin in the re- 
 gion of perpetual snow, and reach far down into the val- 
 ley. That of Bossons, which comes from the highest 
 part of Mont Blanc, reaches a point five thousand five 
 hundred feet below the snow-line, where it is embosomed 
 among luxuriant woods, and' is almost in contact with 
 the wheat- fields of the vale of Chamouni. 
 
 A curious and interesting career is that of the melted 
 snow-flakes. Born high up amid eternal winter, trick- 
 ling down through the crevasse along secret springs 
 and channels of the glacier, issuing at last immediately 
 from its dark, icy vault into sunlight, amid the fragrance 
 of flowers and sweet-smelling hay-fields, it flows forth 
 among human habitations, to bless and beautify the gar- 
 dens, meadows, and fields of men. The river Arveiron is 
 born of the Glacier des Bois. Flower-decked Chamouni 
 — sweet Chamouni, whose beauty dwells as a pleasing 
 memory in the mind of every tourist to Switzerland — is 
 a creature of streams of snow-water flowing from the ice- 
 bound channels of glaciers of the Alps. 
 
 As it is here, so shall it be Hereafter. To the Chris- 
 tian thought the uses of adversity extend beyond the 
 margin of this life and enrich for us, indeed I may say, 
 often procure for us the life of the eternal world. I have 
 read a story of a chamois hunter of the Alps, for the 
 truth of which I do not vouch, and whose probability, 
 indeed, I cannot affirm. I only know that it points the 
 lesson which I am bringing you to-day. The hunter in 
 
1 32 THE Gi >s /TJ. IX NA Tl kil. 
 
 pursuit of his wild mountain game followed to the upper 
 regions of the glacier. In the intense eagerness of chase 
 
 he was careless of his footing, stepped upon false ground 
 and slid rapidly down the mountain over the edge of a 
 deep crevasse. He was not killed, scarcely more than 
 bruised. But as he slowly recovered and looked around 
 him, he felt that he had fallen upon a doom worse than 
 outright death. Between the icy walls of the crevasse, 
 rising two hundred feet or more, he saw far, far above 
 him the blue sky. "This must be my icy sepulchre!" 
 he cried. In despair he threw himself upon his knees 
 and prayed. Now he noticed the little crevasse stream 
 flowing just at his feet. "I will follow this," he said. 
 As he went on and on, the stream was broadened by in- 
 flowing rivulets, until at last it emptied into a wide pool. 
 I nd that was a solid wall of ice. There the crevasse 
 ended ! All avenue of escape was cut off. 1 le was still 
 entombed within that icy gorge. 
 
 Is it a hopeless case? X .t quite; a thought had 
 come to him, that there was one possible — the only 
 
 ble path of deliverance. It lay through the swirl- 
 ing waters of that pool ! "It is but death," he said, 
 " whether I stay or go. I will make the venture !" 1 f 
 lifted his heart to Heaven in silent prayer. Then he 
 
 iside his knapsack and coat. He poised himself a 
 
 moment upon the brink c\ the pool, whose waters as 
 
 they whirled around and sank out 1 I that 
 
 the stream must issue somewhere beyond. Then he 
 
 plunged head foremost into the vortex. TJiere \ 
 
 moment of darkness; a moment of chill; a chill that 
 
 struck to his very heart as he was sucl n into the 
 
 • ••!. flier.- followed a moment k( un< isness 
 
 was borne swiftly along by some unseen power, 
 
 and then — he was thrown out into the clear vault of the 
 
 tream, and borne upon th Ms waters 
 
 into the fields of Chamouni ! The 
 
 . own beautiful valley v. und him. 
 
 I I<- v. id at h< I 
 
 my friends, th me, may soon come to 
 
 Some of us, when we shall stand 0:1 the brink of that 
 
 dread water which men call Death. Let us belie\ 
 
SNOW-BEDS: THE USES OF ADVERSITY. 133 
 
 it is the voice of the Master who assures us, that be- 
 yond its vortex, beyond that unknown pathway to an 
 Unseen World, there shall open to us a view of Hea- 
 ven. The dread plunge; the icy chill that strikes 
 through heart and flesh; a moment of unconsciousness, 
 and then, then in a brighter vale than Chamouni, where 
 fragrant flowers immortal bloom; where the Tree of 
 Life grows evergreen on the banks of the River of Life ; 
 where the voice of friends shall greet us, and never again 
 fade from our hearing; where the Summer of our Soul 
 shall shine in beauty sempervirent; there, in Heaven, 
 our soul's Eternal Rest, we shall dwell forever more ! 
 
 Haply in that day one may ask, as it was asked of St. 
 John of old, "These which are arrayed in white robes, 
 who are they, and whence came they?" Then shall the 
 answer come as it came to the inspired Apostle, " These 
 are they which came out of the great tribulation, and 
 they washed their robes and made them white in the 
 blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne 
 of God, and they serve him day and night in his tem- 
 ple."* 
 
 * Rev. vii., 14-15. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Snow -Whiteness : 
 The Glory of Christ. 
 
 " And in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto 
 the Son of Man. ***** And his 
 head and his hair were white as white wool, white as 
 snow.^ — Revelation i. 13, 14. 
 
SNOW- WHITENESS: THE GLORY OF 
 CHRIST. 
 
 " As white as snow " is a proverb as old as the days 
 of David and Isaiah. What produces snow-whiteness ? 
 To answer the question you may be reminded that 
 there are certain colors of the solar spectrum which, when 
 combined in due proportion, will produce white. These 
 are red and green, yellow and violet, orange and blue; 
 they are known as complementary colors, and are dis- 
 tant from each other half the length of the spectrum. 
 Now, the minute snow-crystals have the quality pos- 
 sessed by other crystals of reflecting light, and the com- 
 bination of the different prismatic rays issuing from 
 them produces the white color so familiar to us. In 
 other words, the complementary colors reflected in due 
 proportion from the facets of the crystals appear to the 
 eye as white. In the more technical language of physi- 
 cal science, the phenomenon of snow-whiteness may be 
 explained thus : the optical severance of the particles 
 giving rise to the multitude of reflections of the white 
 solar light at their surfaces produces the whiteness of 
 the snow-crystals.* 
 
 There is yet another element that enters into the color 
 of snow; viz., the air. If they be examined carefully the 
 individual particles of snow may be seen as transparent. 
 In the case of transparent bodies whiteness results from 
 the mixture of the particles with small spaces of air. The 
 particles of glass or crystal when crushed for this reason 
 become a white powder. The whiteness of paper is pro- 
 duced by the composition of innumerable fibres which 
 are individually transparent. The whiteness of ice when 
 it is chopped or broken, and which you have often ob- 
 
 * Tyndall — " Forms of Water, page 176." 
 
 (137) 
 
i ; THE GOSPEL FN NATURE. 
 
 d in c< >ntrast with the clear bluish color of the entire 
 block, is caused in the same way. Ice formed in the 
 freezing machines, which are so common in many of 
 our Southern States, is usually white, a fact due t<> the 
 air-bubbles with which it is filled, they being entangled 
 by the rapid process of congelation. When the freez- 
 ing of water is extremely slow and the crystallizing 
 force pushes the air effectually aside, the resulting ice 
 is transparent. 
 
 This is the explanation presented by physicists of the 
 beautiful white color of snow, which as we have seen is 
 produced separately or jointly by two causes ; either, 
 first, the reflection of white solar light from the faces of 
 the crystals, or second, by. the admixture, of minute 
 bubbles of air with the particles of snow. Why the snow 
 crystals possess this quality we cannot say further than 
 that so they were constituted by the Creator, who saith 
 to the snow — " Be thou on the earth !" and whose sover- 
 eign power bestowed upon them, as upon all things else, 
 their natural characteristics. We pass n<>w from this 
 explanation of the phenomenon of Snow- Whiteness to 
 consider the lessons which Holy Scripture teaches us 
 under tin: figure of that phenomenon. 
 
 I. The Snow-Whiteness teaches us the Divine Nature 
 and Authority ofc 1 >rd Jesus Christ. 
 
 In the symbolism of the Scriptures, which is lai 
 in sympathy with the ideas of all ancient races, and in- 
 deed I may say of all mankind, white is used to express 
 various ideas, as innocence, purity, victory, and joy. Of 
 these we shall have something to say in our next lecture. 
 To-day we are to consider whiteness as the symb 
 Glory and Majesty. It is the color that expresses above 
 all others the idea of Deity, and no doubt this is s, ■ be- 
 lt is the color of light. There i.m be no more fit- 
 ting natural emblem of the Divine glory than the sun; 
 hence, by a perversion of judgment and feeling which 
 mails the religious history of the rare, the sun itselt 
 
 en a favorite object of worship. In tin- old '1 
 ment the most majestic pictures of the Almighty ai 
 sociated with the color of light. God is represented as 
 
SNO W- WHITENESS: THE GLOR Y OF CHRIST. 1 39 
 
 covering himself with light as with a garment.* In the 
 glowing imagery of Habbakuk Jehovah is compared to 
 the rising sun within whose rays His omnipotence is en- 
 vironed. 
 
 3 His splendor covered the heavens, 
 And the earth was full of His glory ; 
 
 4 And brightness arose like sunlight, 
 
 He hadVays coming forth from His sides, 
 And there was the hiding of His power. f 
 
 For the origin of the imagery used by St. John in 
 our text, we must doubtless go back to the book of 
 Daniel. I The prophet Daniel beholds seated in the 
 midst of the prostrate thrones of world powers, " One 
 that was Ancient of days. His raiment was white as 
 snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His 
 throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning 
 fire." 
 
 The entire imagery of this visional Figure is intended 
 to impress the mind with the sense of Divine Majesty. 
 The patriarchal age, the wool-white hairs, the snow- 
 white raiment, the environment of light, all these in the 
 well-understood figures of oriental thought and speech 
 depict One who without doubt must be recognized as 
 the Eternal God. 
 
 We take another step in developing the meaning of 
 snow-whiteness as applied to the Christ. A year before 
 his death, our Lord Jesus retired with three of his disci- 
 ples to one of the spurs of Mount Hermon and was there 
 " transfigured " before them. On this occasion, Matthew 
 records that our Saviour's " face did shine as the sun, 
 and his raiment was white as light.§ St. Mark, that 
 " His garment became glistening, exceeding white, so as 
 no fuller on earth can whiten them."|| The record of St. 
 Luke is that the " fashion of his countenance was altered, 
 and his raiment became white and dazzling."Tf This pe- 
 culiar appearance of our Saviour's person is associated 
 with a corresponding appearance of the heavenly visitors 
 
 * Psalm civ. 2. f Hab. iii. 3, 4, R, V., and Keil and Delitzsch, 
 in he. % Daniel vii. 9. \ Matthew xvii. 2. || Mark ix. 3. \ Luke 
 ix. 29. 
 
140 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 and Elias, who, we arc told by St. Luke, "ap- 
 '1 in glory;" and also of the overshadowing cloud 
 out of which the Eternal Father spoke, which is des- 
 cribed by Matthew as " a bright cloud." St. Peter speaks 
 
 of it as " the excellent glory." 
 
 These are the external or symbolic associations of the 
 event. The spiritual significance of it we may readily 
 learn from the impression which was made upon the 
 minds of at least two of its witnesses. Says John, "We 
 beheld his Glory as of the only begotten of the Father."* 
 Says Peter, " We were eye witnesses of his Majesty \\ hen 
 we were with him in the hoi}- mount." f It is doubtless 
 chiefly from this standpoint that we must review the 
 whole event, remembering also its relations to the pre- 
 ceding announcement of the crucifixion. We may think 
 of the dazzling whiteness of our Lord's outward ap- 
 pearance as the result and manifestation of the glory 
 of his Divine Nature, which was commonly restrained 
 within usual human semblance, but then burst forth 
 and illuminated not only his body, but his clothing 
 and all surrounding objects. There is no ground to 
 think that this bodily illumination was .1 reflection of the 
 glory surrounding Moses and Elias, for it was Christ's 
 "own glory" which chiefly attracted the apostl 
 and the bright cloud did not appear until after the trans- 
 figuration. 
 
 It was needful that the disciples should have this man- 
 ifestation of the glorious Majesty of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, so that amid the humiliation-, of his human life 
 and approaching death they should nol forget that He 
 was indeed the Son of the Highest. The theme of con- 
 versation between those exalted delej [ates from the spirit 
 world, Moses the giver of the Law and Elijah the re- 
 storer of Prophecy, and Jesus Christ himself in whom 
 Law and Prophecy were fulfilled, was, we are told, the 
 . ,f Jesus, G k expresses it, " The 
 
 exodus" or departure of him which he was about to 
 mplish at Jerusalem.? Thus the re led 
 
 ociate the Heavenly Glory with the earthly hu- 
 
 • John i. 11. i II. Peter i. 16 >v Luke ix. \%. 1 uke i 
 
SNO W- WHITENESS : THE GL OR Y OF CHRIS T. 1 4 1 
 
 miliation, the Conquering with the suffering Messiah. 
 Henceforth the glory of the cross would quench its 
 shame, and the doubting disciples learn the exaltation of 
 the one great theme of their future ministry. Thus we 
 are led through the significance of the snow-whiteness 
 of our Saviour's person on the Transfiguration Mount 
 to the lesson of his Divine Majesty, his heavenly and 
 earthly Glory. 
 
 We come now to that emblem from which we have our 
 text, namely, the vision of the Son of Man in the midst 
 of the seven golden candlesticks. He is represented 
 as clothed with the long " talar" or garment of the High 
 Priest which reached down to the feet. After the man- 
 ner of high priests and kings he was girt about the 
 breast with the golden girdle. " His head and his hair 
 were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were 
 as a flame of fire; his feet like unto a stream of molten 
 metal as it had been glowing in a furnace;* and his 
 countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.""}" 
 
 This visional image with his venerable head and 
 snow-white hairs, presents to us an object of reverent 
 honor. The white hairs as the symbol of old age would 
 alone have taught this lesson. Veneration of age was a 
 part of the Jewish religion, and one of the most binding 
 duties of ancient social life. "Thou shalt rise up before 
 the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and 
 fear thy God : I am the Lord," said the law of Leviticus.| 
 Again, the proverb says : § " The hoary head is a crown 
 of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." It 
 is in the spirit of this law and custom that St. John must 
 have seen among the candlesticks One before whom he 
 should rise up in worship as in the presence of the most 
 venerated Patriarch and Ruler. 
 
 I might venture to plead the spirit of our modern 
 customs also as pointing the same lesson. I know that 
 it is often said, " Ah ! our young people do not honor the 
 aged as they used to do." Perhaps there is ground in 
 some quarters for the charge, but I cannot think it true 
 of the majority of the young men and women of this 
 
 * Lange. f Rev. i. 14, 15. % Lev. xix. 32. \ Prov. xvi. 31. 
 
142 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 generation. There were not wanting in ancient time 
 those who violated law and custom in this regard. Such 
 were the young men who publicly jeered Elisha, follow- 
 ing him with the cry, "Go up, thou bald-head!" : Such 
 1 Leh< tboam, who despised the counsel of the old men 
 and allied himself with the young men of his court. t 
 This irreverent generation has its succession still on 
 earth ; but of most of our youth I believe it may be said 
 th.it reverence for the aged is a strong sentiment within 
 their hearts. 
 
 Perhaps the aged are not careful enough to strengthen 
 and compel this following; perhaps the}- are too ready, 
 in our land at least, t<> retire from the scene of duty and 
 activity; perhaps they have not enough confidence in the 
 willingness of young men to follow them. If so, they 
 surely err. Age does not disqualify for leadership any 
 more than youth. The leaders of the great movements 
 of Scripture were many of them aged men, as Abraham, 
 Moses, and Joshua. We may even include Jacob, the 
 old wanderer, " the Hebrew Ulysses," as Dean Stanley 
 has called him, \ who led his people into Egypt at his 
 new call to a new migration, with new trials and a new 
 glory before him. 
 
 " Something ere the end. 
 
 S< 'in-- wi »rk of noble note may yet be done , 
 'Tis not too lah- to seek a newer world, 
 Made weak by time and fate, but Strong in will — 
 T<> strive, to seek, to find, and no; to yield." 
 
 Were our aged Christians and citizens to take the 
 place, duty, and leadership which their years allow, ami 
 summon theyourig men of this land, like those of Europe 
 who so ardently have followed the aged Premiers Dis- 
 raeli, Gladstone, and Bismarck, 1 believe that they also 
 would be found following the white hails of age into the 
 thickest conflict against all evil, even as the Huguenots 
 
 at [vry rallied to the white-plumed helmet (A Henry of 
 Navarre. Be that as it may, it is manifest that there i^ 
 much in every civilized society which responds to the 
 
 II Kin-, ii. j;. j I. Kings xi. i.j. (Jewish Church, vol. 1., 
 page 
 
SNO W- WHITENESS: THE GLORY OF CHRIST. 1 43 
 
 Scripture laws and customs upon which is based the sym- 
 bolic teaching now before us, namely, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ is an object of reverence. He is to be honored as 
 the Ancient of days, the Venerable, the Patriarch, the 
 Ruler, the Lord. 
 
 But it is something more than the aspect of antiquity 
 that we must consider in the drapery of this image 
 among the candlesticks. The majestic Being of John's 
 vision is clothed with all the symbolic drapery with 
 which the prophets associated Jehovah. One who will 
 read the description of the Almighty as presented in 
 Daniel's vision side by side with this image of John's 
 Revelation will be led inevitably to the conclusion that 
 the same attributes of Divine Majesty and Glory attri- 
 buted by the prophet to the One Being, are by the apostle 
 attributed to the Other. It is not within the bounds of 
 sober thought that John, himself a Jew, educated in the 
 strictest sect of Israel and associated intimately with the 
 most zealous adherents and loftiest representatives of his 
 faith, would have clothed Jesus Christ with the accepted 
 Scriptural symbols of the Divine Nature were he not en- 
 tirely convinced that Jesus Christ is indeed Divine. So 
 that, resting upon Scriptural symbolism alone, we are led 
 to the conclusion which is held by the well-nigh Univer- 
 sal Church of Christ, that Jesus is the Second Person of 
 the adorable Trinity, is possessed of Divine glory, and is 
 to receive worship and service as such. 
 
 In the well-known admirable answer of the Westmin- 
 ster Shorter Catechism to the question "What is God?" 
 He is declared to be infinite, eternal, and unchangeable 
 in seven attributes. Those attributes are the Divine 
 Being, Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness, and 
 Truth. Light is composed of seven primary colors, red, 
 orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Let us 
 imagine every one of the seven branches of the great 
 candlestick of St. John's vision to shed forth one of these 
 seven colors; and further, think of each color as typical 
 of one of the seven Divine attributes.* What, then, shall 
 we see? The seven colors combine and in due propor- 
 
 * McCook — "Object and Outline Teaching," page 262. 
 
144 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 tion form the white solar ray. The Visional Image in 
 their midst is bathed in white light. Light? Yes! It 
 is the color of the Deity. The divine attributes are 
 blended upon One Being. That Being is the Christ ; 
 those blended rays give forth Love, the sum of all the at- 
 tributes of God ! Behold the man! Behold the God! 
 " Herein is Love ! " This is " the true Light which light- 
 eth every man that cometh into the world."* 
 
 2. We turn now from the testimony of Scriptural 
 symbolism to examine for a few moments other lines 
 of evidence which assert the Divine Majesty of Christ. 
 Let us consider the Personal Testimony of Christ's Dis- 
 ciples. 
 
 Said Jesus to the woman of Samaria, " Salvation is of 
 the Jews/'t The saying covers more than at first 
 thought appears. Ewald has reminded us that the 
 student of history has observed in the various nations 
 of antiquity, strong, special tendencies toward which 
 the national efforts constantly pointed. A grand ambi- 
 tion towered over all common aims and necessities. 
 Amid prosperity and adversity it was pursued with a 
 constancy fixed enough to leave its mark upon the 
 national remains. With the Egyptians this aim was 
 the grandeur of architecture and the perfection of civil- 
 ization. With the Phoenicians it was commerce and 
 navigation. With the Roman it was the perfect code of 
 law. With the Greek the perfect art and literature. 
 With the Jew it was the perfect religion. % 
 
 Much as the Hebrew attained in other, indeed in all 
 branches of human improvement, upon this the noblest 
 of all aims his highest endeavors were fixed. Through 
 man}' centuries of varied national fortunes he wavered 
 not from his lofty purpose. The promise of his God to 
 "send to him a Saviour and a Great One "§ shone before 
 him like the north star to the ancient mariner. His 
 course across the ages was lighted and guided therein-. 
 And God was with him. Heaven bent down to meet 
 
 *John i. 9. tjohn iv. 22. [Ewald "History of Israel," I., 
 i saiah xix. 2<>. 
 
SJVO IV- WHITENESS: THE GLOR Y OF CHRIST 145 
 
 the aspirations of his heart, and fill with the coveted 
 prize the hands that had reached out unweariedly for it 
 through years that had grown into millenniums. 
 
 In Jesus Christ the high hopes and aims of Israel cul- 
 minated. The rose of Sharon was the perfect bloom upon 
 the stem of Jesse. With Jesus the great salvation came. 
 With Jesus it was complete. Israel had wrought out 
 her national destiny and so passed away. Though as a 
 people she rejected the true Christ, yet multitudes of 
 her best sons and daughters embraced the perfect faith. 
 Thenceforth as the eagle stirreth up her nest and casts 
 her young upon the wind that they may learn the eagle's 
 flight,* these Christian Israelites were sent forth of God 
 to carry upon all the surface of the earth their holy 
 possession. They invariably bore witness to the glory 
 of Jesus, a glory as of the only begotten from the 
 Father,f the true Messiah of Israel. 
 
 Most of them had known him from childhood. They 
 were companions and friends of his entire public ministry; 
 his private life, his secret thoughts, his character, aims,' 
 motives, were uncovered before them. What a record is 
 that which they left us! Let us seek to condense it with- 
 in a few sentences. To his disciples Jesus was the incar- 
 nation of knowledge, loveliness, and truth. He knew all 
 things, even the thoughts of men,t for he had learned 
 the secret of eternity as he lay in the Father's bosom, his 
 only begotten Son.§ He was full of grace and truth, the 
 true vine,|| the pearl of great price, the Alpha and Omega, 
 the bright and morning Star.! The apostles looked upon 
 the heavens above, the earth and seas beneath, and they 
 saw in these creative wonders the work of their Master's 
 hand. All things were made by him; without him was 
 not anything made which was made ;** by him they were 
 and for him they were created.ff 
 
 In those disciples' thoughts all history hinged upon 
 the glory of Jesus. His will was the spring of Provi- 
 dence.ll The stormy flood grew calm at his word.§§ The 
 food of multitudes multiplied in his hand. || || Devils 
 
 *Deut. xxxii. 11. fjohn i. 14. J Matt. xii. 25. $John i. 18. 
 || John xvi f Rev. xx. 13, 16. **John i. 3. ft Col. i. 16. JJJohn 
 xw. 14. \\ Mark iv 39. || || Luke ix. 13. 
 
146 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 trembled in his presence.* Legions of angels awaited 
 his pleasure. f Disease in her hundred-fold horrors re- 
 signed her hold upon poor humanity at his touch. £ His 
 voice shattered the sceptre of death, § shot back bolts of 
 the grave, and summoned forth the dead into the world 
 of life.ll 
 
 In gentleness, sympathy, and meekness he passed the 
 tenderness of woman. Yet in courage he shamed the bold- 
 est of his disciples, and stood calm, undaunted, a king of 
 men alone in the face and power of crudest foes.^f 
 
 His words were savory in the ears of the common 
 people, who heard him gladly ; ** yet the keenest 
 intellects, the most learned and cultured minds of the 
 profoundest nation of antiquity, quailed and failed before 
 the might of his genius.ft Rulers of Israel sought his 
 counsel, and acknowledged him a teacher come from 
 God;JJ yet he loved the prattle and simplicity of little 
 children, whom he blessed and held in his arms.§§ 
 
 Great as he was in life, in death he was greater still. 
 He died for the truth that he gave ; he died for the 
 world that he loved. He paused in the awful agony of 
 the cross to give hope to other breaking hearts, triumph- 
 ing thus over self — most worthy of victories! — amid the 
 torments of pain. On the one hand he turned to win an 
 unknown dying thief to God ;|| || on the other to commend 
 his mother to the care of a faithful friend. \\ Yes, more 
 than that, amid the jeers of his persecutors and execu- 
 tioners, he raised his voice to Heaven, and spent his dying 
 strength in prayer for them : " Father, forgive them, they 
 know not what they do."*** Well might the sceptic 
 Rousseau exclaim in view of this: "If the life and 
 death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and 
 death of Jesus were those of a God." 
 
 There were no terms of too exalted use for these dis- 
 ciples to apply to Christ. The high priest of Israel was 
 the sacred head of her religious, and often of her secu- 
 lar affairs. lie was revered above all other men. Yet 
 
 Matt. viii. 31. ; Matt. xxvi. 53. 1 Mark i. 34. \ Luke vii. 12. 
 |ohn \i. 43. ' fohnxviii. 37. *' Mark xii. 37. ft Matt. xxii. 46. 
 
 in iii. 2. \ \ .Mark x. 16. || || Luke xxiv. 13. * ' John xix. 26. 
 
 *** Luke xxiii. 3 \. 
 
SNO IV- WHITENESS: THE GL OR Y OE CHRIST. 1 47 
 
 Jesus is to his inspired biographers the Great High Priest 
 of men, greater even than he of the Aaronic priesthood, 
 a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec* 
 He has power to forgive sins, as God ; he is Prophet,f 
 he is exalted to be a Prince, he is King; he is Master, 
 he is Lord even of the Sabbath ; % he is the anointed of 
 God, the Messiah of his people, he is Redeemer, Saviour, 
 the Foundation of the church ;§ with him is the Power 
 of God; || he is the Word of God, yea, culmination of 
 all titles of greatness, " In the beginning was the Word, 
 and the Word was with God, and the Word was GOD!"^[ 
 Angels worship him. Through the doors of heaven 
 the prophet of the Revelation sees Jesus of Nazareth on 
 the Throne of God and the Lamb, the centre of all 
 praise that rises from the holy intelligences of Heaven 
 and the Universe of the Almighty.** Words can go no 
 further in laying the mantle of greatness upon any 
 being than the apostle's words have gone in crowning 
 Christ Jesus Lord of All ! f t 
 
 3. Shall we appeal the question of Christ's greatness 
 to the judgment of great minds? What a library of tes- 
 timonies might one compile, all drawn from the greatest 
 or the best of men ! Let me recite but two, perhaps 
 among the most impartial. The first is the noble eulogy 
 of Napoleon Bonaparte. " Everything in Christ aston- 
 ishes me. His Spirit overcomes me, and his will con- 
 founds me. His ideas and his sentiments, the truths 
 which he announces, his manner of convincing" are not 
 explained, either by human observation or the nature of 
 things. His birth and the history of his life; the pro- 
 fundity of his doctrine, which grapples the mightiest 
 difficulties, and which is of those difficulties the most ad- 
 mirable solution; his gospel ; his apparition ; his empire; 
 his march across the ages and the realms ; everything is 
 to me a prodigy, a mystery insoluble, which plunges me 
 into a revery from which I cannot escape — a mystery 
 which is there before my eyes, a mystery which I can 
 
 * Heb. v. 10. f Matt. ix. 6. J Luke vi. 5. §1. Cor. iii. 11. 
 || I. Cor. i. 24. \ John i. 1. ** Rev. v. 12. ft Acts x. 36. 
 
148 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 neither deny nor explain. Here I see nothing human. 
 Everything is above me. Everything remains grand — 
 of the Grandeur which overpowers. His religion is a 
 revelation from an Intelligence which certainly is not that 
 of man." 
 
 The other testimony which I present is that of the 
 French Rationalist Renan, who seeks to account for the 
 phenomena of Christ and Christianity on simple historic 
 and natural principles, and who views Jesus Christ as a 
 human force alone. He says: "Jesus is that individual 
 who has caused his species to make the greatest advance 
 toward the Divine. Humanity as a whole presents an 
 assemblage of beings low, selfish, superior to the animal 
 only in this that their selfishness is more premeditated. 
 But in the midst of this uniform vulgarity, pillars rise 
 towards heaven and attest a more noble destiny. Jesus 
 is the highest of these pillars which show to man whence 
 he came and whither he should tend. In him is con- 
 densed all that is good and lofty in our nature. * 
 Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will 
 never be surpassed. His worship will grow young with- 
 out ceasing; his legend will call forth tears without end ; 
 his sufferings will melt the noblest heart; all ages will 
 proclaim that among the sons of men there is none born 
 greater than Jesus."* 
 
 Nor has this testimony waxed weak or narrowed the 
 circle of witnesses as the ages have receded from Gol- 
 gotha. The greatest men and women of the world in 
 the past have called, and the greatest men of to-day do 
 call Jesus of Nazareth Lord. The prophecy is fulfilled. 
 God hath given him the nations for an inheritance. Over 
 millions of the earth's noblest sons and daughters, Jesus 
 docs reign 
 
 " Where'er the sun 
 Dotli his successive journeys run !" 
 
 4. Shall we try the greatness of Jesus by the results 
 of his life? To the mind of most men success is the 
 standard of greatness. What has one done? What 
 are the fruits of his life? We need not fear this test in 
 
 * Renan — " Life of Christ," pages 375-6. 
 
SNO W- WHITENESS: THE GLOR Y OF CHRIST. 149 
 
 the case of Jesus ; He himself challenged it when he 
 said : " By their fruits ye shall know them.* Do men 
 gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" Once it was 
 a prophetic metaphor, but now it is a historic fact that 
 the Christ of God is the Dayspring from on high !t 
 The cross and sepulchre have been the rising points of 
 an influence that has been to the world a veritable Sun 
 of Righteousness with healing in its wings.! From these 
 as from a focal point, rays, beams, floods, seas of light 
 have swept over all ages in an ever-expanding way, 
 bright with comfort and eternal hope. Education has 
 arisen along this path. Star-eyed Science has lifted up 
 her head to scan and note the works of heaven, earth 
 and sea. Faith, Hope, and Love have spread their 
 pinions above the sorrowing, bringing shelter, nurture, 
 and cheer. Christ gave to man a new word — Charity' 
 and that one word has transformed society. He eman- 
 cipated and exalted woman; he redeemed childhood, 
 theretofore undervalued and oppressed, and set upon it a 
 price beyond the gold of Ophir. In short, he created 
 
 the highest civilization that humanity has attained 
 
 the civilization of Christianity. He imposed a code of 
 morals that is faultless. He established principles of 
 honor, justice, kindliness, peace, industry, self-denial 
 that have become the bulwarks of nations, the vital ele- 
 ments of the very race. 
 
 II. We must not forget that the Glory of the Christ 
 is associated with His human life and office. Our last 
 thought, therefore, will present as an element in that 
 Glory His Faithfulness as the Messenger of Divine Love 
 and the Friend of sinners. 
 
 One of the Scriptural lessons taught under the im- 
 agery of snow is faithfulness in message-bearing. Says 
 the Proverbialist,§ 
 
 "As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, 
 So is the faithful messenger to them that sent him ; 
 For he refresheth the soul of his masters." 
 
 * Matthew vii. 16. f Luke i. 79. J Mai. iv. 2. 2 Proverbs 
 xxv. 13. 
 
1 50 THE GOSPEL IN X. 1 TLA-/:. 
 
 One who reads this passage without knowing the cus-„ 
 toms of the people of Holy Land would be greatly 
 puzzled to understand how snow could fall in summer 
 time or harvest; or if such should occur, as possibly it 
 might,* how it could be regarded as in any sense re- 
 freshing. However, we have only to carry our thoughts 
 to the heated days of our own summertide, and the re- 
 freshing draughts of ice water or iced lemonade, to have 
 a natural and sufficient explanation of the proverb. In 
 point of fact the ancient Israelites appear to have under- 
 stood quite as well as ourselves the mode of tempering 
 the heats of summer by the preserved frosts of a winter 
 region. Even to-day we are told that at Damascus 
 snow procured from Anti-Lebanon is kept for sale in 
 the bazaars in the hot months, and being mixed with 
 the juice of pomegranates forms a favorite beverage. 
 In the heat of the day, says a modern traveler, the Jews 
 in northern Galilee offered us water cooled with snow 
 from Jebelesh Sheik, the modern Mount Hermon.f This 
 mountain is ten thousand feet above the Mediterranean 
 Sea, and the top is partially covered with snow, or rather 
 ice, during the whole year, which, however, lies only in 
 the ravines, and thus presents at a distance the appear- 
 ance of radiant stripes around and below the summit.^ 
 Nature has thus made a large provision of material to 
 be used in the manner suggested by the Proverbialist. 
 Countless loads of snow, says another traveler, are 
 brought down to Beirut from the sides of Sannin, one 
 of the highest peaks of Lebanon, to freshen the water, 
 otherwise hardly fit to drink. The practical use of snow 
 in this manner existed also among the Greeks and 
 Romans.§ 
 
 We shall not be misunderstood nor, we are certain, 
 shall we belittle the Glorious Majesty of Him whom we 
 1: to serve, if we apply the central lesson of this pro- 
 verb to our blessed Lord himself. It is indeed a part of 
 his glory that he has placed himself in our stead, that 
 he has humbled himself to our position, and become a 
 
 e Proverbs xxvi. 1. |*Wilson—" Lands of the Bible," II., 
 Vol. II., 437- I Smith's Bible 
 Di< tionary. 
 
SNOW-WHITENESS: THE GLORY OF CHRIST. 15 I 
 
 veritable Messenger to us. " The Son of Man is come 
 not to be ministered to, but to minister.* 
 
 In the first chapter of the Revelation in close connec- 
 tion with the image amidst the candlesticks we read 
 the assertion of St. John that his message is " From 
 Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness." f In the mes- 
 sages to the churches of Asia, subsequently delivered, 
 this glorious Being from the midst of the candlesticks 
 thus speaks, "These things saith the Amen, the faithful 
 and true Witness." % When in the hour of his great 
 humiliation Jesus stood captive in the presence of Pon- 
 tius Pilate, he declared to the Roman knight that the 
 purpose of his coming and birth into the world was that 
 he might bear witness to the truth, and therein, he 
 added, consisted his true kingship. § This character as 
 messenger and witness, the bearer of the gospel, the 
 good tidings, is that which was predicted by the pro- 
 phets concerning the Messiah. In the last of the ca- 
 nonical books of the Old Testament the predicted Christ 
 is called the "Messenger of the Covenant." || Indeed 
 this title of Messenger or Angel, for the words are the 
 same, belongs to the Second Person of the Godhead, 
 who appears in the ancient Scriptures as the Angel of 
 the Covenant, the Angel of the Lord. 
 
 We need only read the Gospels in order to see how 
 faithful Jesus was to this his character as a Messen- 
 ger. He declared the truth, the whole truth, and noth- 
 ing but the truth. His joy was to do the will of Him 
 that sent him, to hold up before the children of men the 
 message which he had come to bring them, to tell them 
 of their loss, and point them the way of salvation; to 
 show them their sins, and provide for them a way of es- 
 cape ; to remind them of the fleeting nature of this life, 
 and fix their thoughts upon that immortal home where 
 the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary are 
 at rest. In order to bear this message to men he shunned 
 no labor, he begrudged no cost, he withheld no pain, but 
 freely bore and yielded all things, even life itself amid 
 the terrors and contumely of the shameful cross. 
 
 * Matthew xx. 28. t Revelation i. 5. % Revelation iii. 14. \ John 
 xviii. 37. || Malachi iii. 1. 
 
152 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 In bringing this message into the world how truly has 
 he refreshed the souls of those to whom, for the time, 
 he became a servant! As the ice-cold water to the 
 fever-consumed patient, so is this message to the souls 
 who are parched and consumed by the sins and mis- 
 eries, the vanities and falseness of the world of guilt 
 and misery in which they live. Oh! you whose hearts 
 are burning with life's fitful fever, whose souls are bit- 
 terly athirst, behold, this message comes to you to-day! 
 Drink and live! Refresh yourselves with the waters 
 that flow from the perennial fountains opened by the 
 hand of the Christ upon the Mountains of Holiness in 
 the Paradise of God. 
 
 2. Again, the Christ is not only faithful as the Divine 
 Messenger, but as the sinner's Friend. One interesting 
 and curious Scripture lesson derived from snow is that 
 taught by the patriarch Job. He uses the snows that 
 melt before the influence of the summer heat as an em- 
 blem of Faithless Friendship. 
 
 I have stood in my tent door in the Garden of the 
 gods of Colorado, and watched the snow-storm drifting 
 around the summit of Pike's Peak until it had been cov- 
 ered with a white mantle. The flakes accumulated in 
 thick drifts in the deep ravines. On the sudden slopes 
 they lightly bordered the fissures like a delicate lace 
 veil. On the abrupt declivities they showed themselves 
 here and there in brilliant spots. Every deep in the 
 mountain was marked out from afar by the brilliant 
 mould of snow which filled it. This transient snow en- 
 veloping the mountain like a veil, which so far from 
 concealing its form reveals it in its smallest details, 
 has well been called the coquetry of nature.* The next 
 day when the summer sun arose, the grand old beacon 
 of the American desert, whose lofty poll had thus been 
 whitened the night before, gradual ly dropped off his 
 snow)' mantle and stood out in naked massive propor- 
 tions against the sky. Such a phenomenon as this might 
 well have been taken as a fitting emblem of the transient 
 
 * Reclus— "The History of a Mountain,' 7 page ;: 
 
SNO W- WHITENESS: THE GLOR Y OF CHRIST. 1 5 3 
 
 nature of human affection or of any other human beauty, 
 grace, or service ; but Job appears to have had something 
 else in his mind, the breaking up of the winter snow. 
 
 When the soft south wind blows in the spring, and 
 the heat of the sun acquires fresh fervor, the snows piled 
 upon the mountain slopes, packed within ravines, and 
 spread upon the surface of the streams, begin slowly to 
 dwindle and melt and glide away, until at last they and 
 the mountain torrents into which they have been merged 
 are alike extinct. Such is the patriarch's figure of a 
 friendship which, like the snows and snow-fed torrents of 
 a mountain, yields and disappears before the fierce beat- 
 ing of affliction and poverty. You will permit me to 
 present his words in a form of English verse which per- 
 haps may convey to you more thoroughly the sense of 
 its poetic figure and beauty. 
 
 14 To one who is consumed by burning grief 
 Consideration from a friend is due. 
 
 15 My brothers as the torrent have been false, 
 As winter torrents when they fade away. 
 
 16 The streams were dark by reason of the ice; 
 The snows within their bosom hid themselves. 
 
 17 When spring time comes to breathe upon them warmth, 
 They melt, they dwindle :— summer comes with heat, 
 And from their channels are the streams extinct. 
 
 18 Their branching brooklets wind along the sands. 
 They mount up in the waste, in vapor die ! 
 
 19 The traveling bands of Tenia looked for them ; 
 The caravans of Seba hoped for them ; 
 
 20 They were confounded, for their trust was great, 
 They burned with grief upon the empty banks. 
 
 Thus ye too are become a dried-up brook : 
 Ye saw my troubles and ye stood amazed.* 
 
 There are parables of contrast as well as of compari- 
 son, and here all is contrast. Whatever charge of fickle- 
 ness and faithlessness may be laid against human friend- 
 ships, none such can be urged against Him who is the 
 Friend of the sinner. His love passeth that of woman. 
 He is the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 
 His friendship has not been wearied by your faults ; has 
 
 * Job vi. 
 
154 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 not been alienated by your follies ; has not been broken 
 by wrongs that you have inflicted thereon ; ha 
 been exhausted by the heavy and frequent drafts which 
 you have made upon it by your unworthiness and con- 
 tempt of his love. Poverty has laid no strain upon the 
 friendship of Jesus. The enmity of man has not broken 
 the cord that binds the heart of Christ to the helpless. 
 Those who have least of human friendship, to whom 
 has come least of earth's treasures and joys, are those 
 who may most surely count upon the abiding friendship 
 of Jesus. His love antedated the life of the world: 
 "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love." It 
 will outlive the life of worlds, for having loved his own 
 he will love them to the end. He is the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and forever; the same loving Friend of the friend- 
 less, Helper of the needy, Comforter of the sorrowing; 
 pouring the wealth of his infinite Friendship upon the 
 waifs of life, wooing the unfortunate and the sinful back 
 through Himself to the paths of virtue and peace. Oh, 
 friendless hearts! Oh, sin-bruised spirits, come to this 
 Friend and be made happy and holy forever by partaking 
 of his heavenly love! This' Glory bends down today to 
 encompass and enfold you. Will you lift up your life 
 to be received therein, to be glorified thereby? If you 
 would be crowned with his Glory in the presence of the 
 great White Throne, you must share with him on earth 
 both glory and shame. All human glories are as the 
 flowers of the field; they will perish in your hand, and 
 their faded beauty drop from your lifeless fingers at the 
 touch of Death. But the Glory which Jesus offers to 
 divide with you is Fadeless and Eternal. 
 
 While walking up the street one evening during an 
 election canvass I saw rockets flaring aloft leaving be- 
 hind them trails of glittering sparks. There was a rush 
 
 along a graceful curve, a momentary twinkling, a brief 
 
 explosion, a beautiful display of colors, and then all was 
 
 quenched in darkness. Over against these flaring rock- 
 ets, its light momentarily hidden by them, .shone the 
 Evening Star; shone on steadily, shining out brightly 
 
 when the rocket's brief glamour had faded into the 
 night. It had been shining since the morning stars sang 
 
SNO W- WHITENESS : THE GL OR Y OF CHRIS T. 155 
 
 together the hymnal of creation's dawn, and it shall 
 shine on until the heavens be rolled together as a scroll, 
 and the elements melt with fervent heat. Here, I 
 thought, is the type of the human and the Divine. The 
 glory of man is as the rocket whose beauty and lustre 
 arrest for a moment the admiration of beholders and 
 fade away forever. But the glory and beauty of Christ, 
 Heaven's " Bright and Morning Star," shall shine on 
 eternally. O soul, turn thou from following the fading 
 lustre of earthly honors, and fix thy faith and love upon 
 Him whose Glory is quenchless, whose Infinite Splendor 
 shall illumine Heaven and all its innumerable Host, 
 world without end ! 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 Snow-Purity : 
 Human Perfection. 
 
 " Her nobles were purer than snow, they zvere 
 whiter than milky — Lamentations iv. 7. 
 
 '•'•Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." — 
 Psalm li. 7. 
 
SNOW-PURITY: HUMAN PERFECTION. 
 
 In works of art our Lord Jesus Christ is usually re- 
 presented in white garments. This symbolism expresses, 
 as we have seen in the last lecture, his Divine Glory. 
 But the white garments of the Christ express also the 
 idea of purity, for always, as it is to-day, whiteness has 
 been the emblem of innocence. The angels of God as 
 ministers of the Most High are clad with power which 
 they exercise among men and over nature; but that 
 quality which appears to have been taken as especially 
 characteristic of them is holiness. Hence they are known 
 as" the holy angels," "the holy ones," and therefore they 
 are always represented in the Scriptures as clothed in 
 white. The angel of the Lord who rolled away the stone 
 from the grave of Jesus on the morning of the Resurrec- 
 tion was clad in raiment white as snow.* The angels 
 who visited the disciples as they stood looking stead- 
 fastly into heaven after the ascended Lord were clad in 
 white apparel. t 
 
 A like symbolism is used to express the holiness of 
 men. Jeremiah expresses the righteousness of Zion in 
 her days of faithfulness to Jehovah by declaring that " her 
 nobles (or Nazarites) were purer than snow." The saints 
 in glory shall walk with Christ in white, because they 
 are worthy, not having defiled their garments.^ The 
 four-and- twenty elders upon the thrones are arrayed in 
 white.§ In the judgment day the saints shall receive 
 "the white stone,"|| the token of acquittal and recogni- 
 tion of the righteousness of their new life, as the white 
 ballot or ball in certain American societies is the sign 
 of the elector's approval of an applicant for membership. 
 This symbol is transferred to the Church considered in 
 its Catholic unity, for we are told that the Bride, which 
 is the Lamb's wife, at the marriage of the Lamb, shall 
 
 __ * Matt, xxviii. 3. f Acts i. 10. t Rev. iii. 4. 2 Rev. iv. 4. II Rev. 
 11. 17. 
 
 (159) 
 
160 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 array herself in fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine 
 linen is the righteous acts of the saint-. 
 
 Under the Jewish ritual on the great day of Atone- 
 ment the High Priest was required to put <>n his linen 
 coat, even the holy garments, and thus he was to make 
 atonement for the holy sanctuary, for the priests and for 
 all the people. f The official garments of the priests 
 and Levites in the Jewish temple service were undoubt- 
 edly white. A similar dress prevailed in the Christian 
 Church as early at least as the fourth century, and is 
 retained among the ministers of the Anglican, Episcopal 
 and Roman Churches, although it maybe considered very 
 doubtful whether it was a return to the priestly habit of 
 the Hebrew ritual, or a simple development from the 
 ordinary garments of the laity of early times as main- 
 tained by Dean Stanley.J Even choristers and choir boys 
 are clad in white linen garments, in token of that purity 
 of life which ought to be the mark of those who officiate 
 in the song service of God's holy house. 
 
 We are thus led to that subject which is naturally as- 
 sociated with Snow-Purity, viz., personal purity, holiness 
 or perfection. The term perfection may be used in cur- 
 rent theological language in a three-fold sense. First, 
 it expresses the perfection of man at his origin as re- 
 garded from the view point of the Bible narrative of 
 creation. Second, it expresses that legal perfection 
 which is bestowed in the act of justification and pardon 
 through the soul's faith in Jesus Christ. Third, it 
 expresses the actual possession by man of the genu of 
 a holy life and his progress therein, known as sanctifica- 
 tion, and which is consummated at the general resurrec- 
 tion, when God's saints are " made perfect in holiness." 
 The present discourse will be concerned chiefly with the 
 first two of these meanings. 
 
 I. We turn, in the first place, to consider man's Primi- 
 tive Holiness. The Bible pictures the original man in a 
 condition far from savagery. It is also widely separate 
 from an est. it-- of civilization as known among us. Of the 
 
 .. \ix. S. : I ; Siam.i v — "Christian Institu- 
 
 tions," chapter VIII., page 178. 
 
SNOW-PURITY: HUMAN PERFECTION. l6l 
 
 arts and sciences, and ordinary comforts and luxuries of 
 society, the primitive pair knew nothing. These rapidly 
 arose, however, for we find music, the invention of the 
 pipe and organ, the keeping of flocks and herds, the 
 forging of copper and iron, the making of cutting instru- 
 ments, and such-like arts, already appearing in the 
 family of Cain, showing that the inherent tendencies of 
 man in that direction were strong at the very outset.* 
 What Holy Scriptures present, and what our faith affirms, 
 concerning man's original nature is that he was made in 
 the image of God. St. Paul, writing to the church of 
 Colosse,f said : "And have put on the new man which 
 is renewed in Knowledge after the image of Him that 
 created him." Writing to the Ephesians,J he says : " Put 
 on the new man which after God is created in Righte- 
 ousness and true Holiness."' It is plain from these pas- 
 sages that knowledge, righteousness, and holiness are 
 elements of the image of God in which man was origi- 
 nally created. Adam, as soon as he began to be, had 
 self-knowledge. He was conscious of his own being, 
 faculties, and states. He had also the knowledge of 
 what was outside of himself, or he had what modern 
 philosophy calls world-consciousness. § 
 
 It is, of course, unnecessary for us to affirm, in declar- 
 ing that original man was a creature of knowledge, that 
 he knew everything. His knowledge of material things 
 was undoubtedly imperfect. It was certainly sufficient 
 to maintain life and health, to defend himself against 
 such inconveniences and obstacles as his primitive con- 
 dition might have presented, although we know from 
 Scripture that it was,|| and infer from science that it must 
 have been, extremely favorable in all its surroundings.^ 
 The Bible record of what Adam knew of the external 
 world is limited chiefly to the statement that his mind 
 was deeply interested in the living things near his abode ; 
 and that he was able to distinguish one from the other, 
 
 * Genesis iv. 20-23. t Col. iii. 10. % Eph. iv. 24. \ Dr. Chas. 
 Hodge — "Systematic Theology," vol. II., page 101. || Gen. ii. 8. 
 \ Sir William Dawson— " Story of the Earth and Man," page 
 367. Wallace — "On Natural Selection," page 320. Winchell 
 — " Preadamites," page 356. 
 
1 62 THE GOSPEL IX X ATC RE. 
 
 to name them, and perhaps in a rude way to classify 
 them.* The first Academy of Natural Sciences was 
 established in the groves of Eden. 
 
 The chief thing for us to believe is that Adam knew 
 God, whom to know is life eternal ; that he had knowl- 
 edge of himself and of his relations to God; that his moral 
 nature was in full exercise, and that in all essential par- 
 ticulars his soul was pure. Such an estate does not 
 require us to suppose the learning of the schools, the 
 skill of the mechanic arts, and the culture and poli-h of 
 manners which obtain among the most highly civilized 
 modern nations. With respect to these attainments, we 
 may perhaps agree that man at his origin was neither 
 ■: nor civilized, but simply undeveloped.! It is an 
 experience with which we are continually meeting, and 
 which may be observed in all parts of Christendom to- 
 day, that the greatest vigor of intellect and stroi 
 moral sense may be associated with the humblest sur- 
 roundings and simplest forms of life ami manners. 
 
 There is a pride of civilization which is fed or rather 
 inflated by very superficial material. There are many 
 whose ideas of "high society," of "nobility," of lofty 
 development, and "enlightenment" are inseparable from 
 palatial dwellings — I do not say "homes" — splendid fur- 
 niture, costly works of art, luxurious entertainment, abun- 
 dant and disciplined service. Even here in Republican 
 America multitudes genuflect and cringe covetously be- 
 fore wealth and its accessories, as though they were the 
 Standard of all worth and manhood. You shall see the 
 ideas <»f such folks whirl and somersault through whole- 
 arcs and circles of admiration at a sudden announce- 
 ment that such and such a man i^ a millionaire; that 
 this or that lady is an heiress! Their are men in high 
 rd in this and all other cities simply for their money 
 who, independent of that, would not be thought worthy 
 of a i ignition. Yes, we may see men who 
 
 are moral lepers, polluted to the core of their lives, not 
 only tolerated but fawned over, feted, served, because they 
 have seized power and wealth. Shamel Let us clear our 
 
 i. ii. 19, 20. + Professor Harris — "The Self-Revelation 
 346. 
 
SNOW-PURITY: HUMAN PERFECTION. 163 
 
 thinking of such fogs ; let us purify our moral atmos- 
 phere of such miasmatic ideas, and exalt pure, true 
 manhood and womanhood, irrespective of the tinsel of 
 outward estate. Let us remember that the most heroic 
 ages of our Republic were times of simplicity of man- 
 ners and life. Let us away forever with the notion that 
 the veneer of modern luxury and riches is necessary to 
 high and pure character! 
 
 For one moment draw in your mind a contrast between 
 two states of society in our Mother country, and which 
 may easily be reproduced here. One is limneci to us by 
 the pen of daily journalism, whose often too prurient hand 
 plucks aside the veil that barely hides from public view 
 the social life of some degraded examples of England's 
 proud nobility or America's inflated plutocracy. One 
 glance — I dare not bid you take more — and lo ! a group 
 more loathsome than lepers, putrescent at the very seat 
 of life, reveling amidst the fairest creations of modern 
 civilization. Drop the veil! Shut out the infected spot, 
 and let us look now at a picture drawn from the " other 
 extreme of the social scale," to use the swelling phrase of 
 caste. It is the matchless picture of the Scotch peasant's 
 home, written by Robert Burns. The Saturday night 
 gathering of children from their weekly toil, the simple 
 tale of love, the humble surroundings, the patriarchal act 
 of evening worship, are depicted in matchless phrasing. 
 
 Then homeward all take off their sev'ral way ; 
 
 The youngling cottagers retire to rest ; 
 The parent pair their secret homage pay, 
 
 And proffer up to Heaven the warm request 
 That He who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, 
 
 And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride, 
 Would, in the way his Wisdom sees the best, 
 
 For them and for their little ones provide ; 
 
 But chiefly, in their hearts with Grace Divine preside. 
 
 From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, 
 That makes her loved at home, revered abroad ; 
 
 Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 
 "An honest man's the noblest work of God ;" 
 
 And certes, in fair Virtue's heavenly road, 
 Thecottage leaves the palace far behind. 
 
 What is a lordling's pomp? A cumbrous load 
 Disguising oft the wretch of human kind 
 Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refined !* 
 
 * Burns — "The Cotter's Saturday Night " 
 
1 64 THE GOSPEL IN NATL RE. 
 
 Do not misunderstand ; there are women and men of 
 rank and wealth who adorn the highest circles of the 
 true nobility of nature and grace. They live to honor 
 nd bless their fellows ; they are foremost in every 
 work of self-denial and bounty that can add force to the 
 ge whose uplift shall raise mankind to a loftier 
 plane of character and life. On the other hand, there 
 are poor dwellers in lowly and ill-furnished homes who 
 are as far removed from the high moral altitude of 
 Burns' cotter as is the stainless snow of a country field 
 from the winrows of frozen filth that fringe our city 
 streets. They live in rural hut and cottage; in New- 
 York tenement houses, like ant-hills in their swarm- 
 ing life, but unlike them toto ccelo in every element of 
 physical and 'moral purity; 3 , they live also in Phila- 
 delphia's pretty little brick homes with their white mar- 
 ble trimmings. God pi y and keep them all! But the 
 point which I seek here to emphasize is that mere - 
 condition, whether high or low, does n and never 
 
 did determine man's rank in personal purity and nobility 
 of character. These are mere secondary elements which 
 Ave may readily separate from the question of the real 
 standing of .Adam as a perfect man. 
 
 2. There is nothing contrary to the fullest actual attain- 
 ments of modern science in the belief that man at his 
 origin was in this sense a perfect being. If we think of 
 his physical nature simply, there is not a scintilla of tes- 
 timony, entitled to consideration as scientific evidence, 
 that fossil man, so called, was any different in his physi- 
 cal characteristics from man as he is to-day.* Whatever 
 the future may uncover, this is the present condition of 
 our km ■ 
 
 This is certainly according to the analogy of nature. 
 
 T think I may affirm without far of contradiction that 
 
 -il animal has ever been uncovered from any 
 
 1 <n which, so \.\r as could be determined, 
 
 did not 1 - in all plenitude and amplitude of its 
 
 fauna) characteristics everything necessary to insure its 
 
 'Natural Selection," , Huxley— 
 
 •• Man's Place in Nature," | 
 
SNOW-PURITY: HUMAN PERFECTION. 165 
 
 perfect life amidst the conditions of its being. Numbers 
 of species have been preserved to us from very early 
 periods which have their close representatives in living 
 creatures. In so far as a comparison between the two 
 classes can determine, the oldest are as perfect after their 
 kind as the latest. The earliest fossil spiders of which 
 I have any knowledge appear to be as perfectly adapted 
 to the conditions of their life as those which spin and 
 weave and capture their prey every summer in our gar- 
 dens and fields. A series of figures of fossil spiders 
 collected in Colorado,* might well be taken for drawings 
 of a number of badly-damaged species of our current 
 fauna. Moreover, the only example of the industry of 
 these remarkable creatures which has been preserved to 
 us from early periods, a little fossil cocoon or egg-sac,f 
 appears to be as perfect as are the egg-nests of the 
 genus! to which it probably belongs, as they may be 
 found every summer in the shady ravines of Delaware 
 county, or hanging underneath the rocky ledges in 
 Fairmount Park. The beautifully preserved fossil ara- 
 neads of the amber§ of Europe are in every essential 
 respect identical with recent genera. 
 
 The point which I am here seeking to emphasize is 
 that the habit of nature appears to be to present its new 
 forms of life as perfect forms. Their first apparition 
 above the geologic horizon in which they are discovered, 
 presents them to the vision of science full-orbed species, 
 well furnished, and completely outfitted for their place 
 in nature. 
 
 There is indeed a tendency of low types to appear 
 first, but appear in their highest perfection and variety ;|| 
 sometimes, like the fishes of the Upper Silurian, they 
 appear at once as " kings of their class." Why, there- 
 fore, should we suppose any exception in the case of 
 man? Why, at least, should we be surprised at the 
 statement that man, when he appeared, made his appari- 
 tion with all his physical characteristics, a perfect man? 
 
 * S. H. Scudder — "Tertiary Insects of North America." 
 f Aranea Columbia, Scudder. % Linyphia. \ Koch and Ber- 
 exdt. See also Thorell's " European Spiders." || Sir William 
 Dawsox — "Story of the Earth and Man," page 55. 
 
1 66 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 3. But man's physical nature is by no means the most 
 important part of him. He is a rational and moral 
 creatine as well. It may seem strange that there should 
 be any need to emphasize or even express the fact that 
 man stands alone in the world as a moral being. Vet 
 in our ition this has not only been doubted, but 
 
 vigorously denied, and it is needful for us here at least 
 to allude to the fact. I do not enter into the interesting 
 and undoubtedly difficult question as to the exact differ- 
 ence between human intelligence and animal instinct. 
 It is enough here to say that the ripest utterance of phi- 
 losophy declares that the lower animals cannot form 
 high ideals which constitute the peculiar charac- 
 teristics of man: the ideas of necessary truth, or 1 
 good and infinity, culminating in the idea of God. There 
 is no ground for believing that any of the lower animals 
 have a sense of good as good, and of binding obliga- 
 tion, of a sense of evil as evil, as deserving ot disap- 
 proval.* 
 
 Even Mr. Darwin, much as he has done or attempted 
 to break down the barrier between man and the inferior 
 creatures, is compelled to acknowledge that we have no 
 11 to suppose that any of the lower animals have the 
 capacity of comparing their past or future actions or 
 motives , or < >f approving or disapproving them. " There- 
 fore," he continues, "when a Newfoundland dog dr 
 child out of the water, or a monkey fa< 
 rescue its comrade, or take charge of an orphan monkey, 
 we do not call its conduct moral." f 
 
 When poor old "Jumbo" interposed his bulky body 
 
 cue the baby elephant, and thus was stricken by the 
 
 Canadian Railway train that caused his death, the 
 
 action was one which excited a thrill of admiration and 
 
 sympathy. Whatever motive may have stirred tin- mas- 
 
 reature to this ait of affection, we cannot attribute 
 it to moral idea--. Such an act is separated by ail im- 
 
 ble gulf from that of the noble engineer who, from 
 a sense of high obligation in the discharge of his respon- 
 
 *Pii Mi Cosh — " Christianity and P 
 
 o chapter V. of thai seed-hed of pertinent and lofty thoughts. 
 I " Descent of Man." page 1 u. 
 
SNOW-PURITY: HUMAN PERFECTION. 167 
 
 sible trust, ventures his life to save an endangered train ; 
 from that of the physician who in the discharge of his 
 duty to God, to humanity, and to science risks his life 
 atjain and arain in efforts to rescue the victim of con- 
 tagious disease from impending death ; from that of the 
 mother who, in holy consecration to her children's wel- 
 fare, toils, sacrifices, suffers day after day, year after year, 
 that her offspring may be nurtured not only into vigorous 
 physical life but into moral purity and faith. Whatever 
 may be the difference between these two classes of actions, 
 we know that in those of the animal there is no sense of 
 good as good, of evil as evil; no sense of obligation to 
 a higher Power or to any idea of duty and moral right- 
 eousness. Goodness is a law determining the relations 
 between things, relations which have to be realized by 
 free-wills.* Thus it follows that among innumerable 
 forms of organized being in the world, there is but one 
 representative of moral life. No being save man con- 
 templates a general law of life, making its fulfillment a 
 deliberate end of action ; no being save man possesses a 
 conception of duty or " oughtness." No animal con- 
 templates a general law of conduct, or intelligible rule 
 of life applicable for the government of the order to 
 which it belongs; no animal subordinates physical im- 
 pulse at the bidding of such a law; no animal aims at 
 the perfecting of its nature under a general conception 
 of the excellence of its own nature as dog, horse, or ape. 
 Therefore we conclude that man alone of all living 
 beings known to us in this world is a moral being, f 
 
 4. Further, the power of reasoning intelligence, the 
 sense of God and of right and wrong, reverence, duty, 
 and conscience, all these appear to have been as vigor- 
 ous in man at the beginning as they are to-day .J So 
 far from there being evidence that man at the outset was 
 a chattering ape-man, or a human-like savage uttering 
 inarticulate sounds, with no thought of God except a 
 
 * Naville — "The Problem of Evil" (Godet). f Calderwood 
 — "Science and Religion," page 278. "The Relations of Mind 
 and Brain," page 504. i Rawlinson — "Origin of Nations," 
 page 10. 
 
i68 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 wild fear of Nature and a blind wonder at the strange 
 things occurring on all hands around him, the contrary 
 is the case. What is the testimony of 1 [istory? 
 
 The evidence appears to be that there is a special ten- 
 dency in religious conceptions to run into developments 
 (jf corruption and decay. We have found in the most 
 ancient records of the Aryan language proof that the 
 indications of religious thought are higher, simpler, 
 purer as we go back in time. At least in the very old- 
 est compositions of human speech which have come- 
 down to us, we find the Divine Being spoken of in the 
 sublime language which forms the opening of the Lord's 
 Babylonian documents of early date tell, simi- 
 larly, of art and literature having preceded the great 
 deluge, and having survived it. Tin- explorers who 
 have dug deep into the Mesopotamia!! mounds, and ran- 
 sacked the tombs of Egypt, have come upon no certain 
 traces of savage man in those regions, which a wide- 
 spread tradition makes the cradle of the human race.f 
 When we an: in search of our puresl forms of moral 
 truth, our sublimest ideals of duty,and our loftiest forms 
 of reverence and prai G i, we do not turn to mod- 
 
 ern religious developments such as the Book of Mor- 
 mon, or the fanciful worship of Comte ami the Positi- 
 vists, or to Herbert Spencer's " Data of Ethics," or the 
 theories ^\ Michael Bakunin and the Nihilists. \\ 
 further back. We go back to the wr\ I ami old- 
 
 est; and the nearer we draw to the dawn <>f human life 
 .veet.-r, the simpler, the loftier do we find the con- 
 ceptions of ( i' >d and right. 
 
 The religion of .air Lord Jesus Christ, which is con- 
 dly the presentation of moral purity 
 
 and excellence, is, as He Him lared, but the ful- 
 
 fillment, the outflowering, the enlargement and develop- 
 ment ■ -f the law and the prophel 5. Mount Sinai and the 
 Mount of Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments and the 
 Sermon on the Mount, are widely separate m time, but 
 are linked together by community of thought, and are 
 generically one with the precepts of religion and right- 
 
 ; he Unity <>f Natui 520. 
 
 t K.v 
 
SNOW-PURITY: HUMAN PERFECTION. 169 
 
 eousness which ruled the life of Abraham, Noah, and 
 the patriarchs. 
 
 Not less significant is the fact that everywhere in the 
 imagination and traditions of mankind there is preserved 
 the memory and the belief in a past better than the pres- 
 ent. It is a constant saying, we are told, among African 
 tribes that formerly heaven was nearer to man than it is 
 now; that the highest God, the creator himself, gave form- 
 erly lessons of wisdom to human beings; but that after- 
 wards he withdrew from them, and dwells now far from 
 them in heaven. All the Indian races have the same 
 tradition ; and it is not easy to conceive how a belief so 
 universal could have arisen unless as a survival. It has 
 all the marks of being a memory and not an imagina- 
 tion. It would reconcile the origin of man with that 
 law which has been elsewhere universal in creation — the 
 law under which every creature has been produced not 
 only with appropriate powers, but with appropriate in- 
 stincts and intuitive perceptions, for the guidance of 
 these powers in their exercise and use.* 
 
 II. Our lesson leads us, in the second place, to con- 
 sider that Legal Perfection which is bestowed in the act 
 of Justification through the soul's Faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Whatever may be our view as to the degree of perfec- 
 tion originally possessed by man, we shall not differ 
 widely as to the fact that a large portion of the human 
 race is sunken in a low depth of iniquity. This is well 
 expressed by the sharp contrast drawn in one of the 
 passages chosen as our text. Israel faithful and Israel 
 fallen are thus figured : — 
 
 7 Her nobles were purer than snow, 
 Whiter they were than milk. * * * 
 
 8 Their visage is blacker than coal ; 
 They are not known in the streets.! 
 
 " God made man upright, but they have sought out 
 many inventions."! "All we like sheep have gone 
 
 * The Duke of Argyll— "The Unity of Nature, " pages 542-3. 
 t Lam. iv. 7. X Eccl. vii. 29. 
 
I/O THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 astray."* These are Scripture expressions which de- 
 clare to us what history and human consciousne- 
 firm, that man is now separate from that ideal of holiness 
 which it is possible for him to conceive and which he 
 knows that he may realize. You are walking in the 
 t, and find in your pathway a riven oak. You did 
 •e the falling bolt "nor hear the crash of the thun- 
 der, nor witness the shattering of this forest king, but 
 you know it was smitten by lightning. The destroying 
 bolt has left its own testimony. Look now at this 
 ruined man ; You did not see him destroyed, but the 
 traces of destruction are manifest everywhere upon him, 
 and you know that some time he was riven by the light- 
 ning stroke of sin. 
 
 Most of you have frequently been reminded of a poem 
 entitled " Beautiful Snow." Every year as the winter 
 in it become- a theme for banter and jest by the 
 paragraphers of the public pre- 3. Yel thep m is by no 
 means as well known as the universal knowledge of its 
 title would seem I znify. That title is very deceiv- 
 ing, — it calls up a vision of the simple beauty of the 
 fall, but in point of fact there is very little of such 
 charm in the poem itself. It is a sad and dolorous 
 strain, the burden of which is well i :d by the 
 
 words of Jeremiah's Lamentations which have just been 
 quoted. 
 
 How the wild crowd goes swayii 
 
 I [ailing each other with humor and song ! 
 
 I lou th( rs (lash by — 
 
 • for .i moment, then lost to the 
 Ringing, su ii 
 
 he beautiful snow : 
 pure when it falls from the sky — 
 be trampled in mud by the crowd rushing by ' 
 trampled and tracked by the thousands ol 
 Till it blends with the lilth in the horril 
 
 snow — but I fell : 
 lik>- the snow-flakes, from heaven to hell. 
 
 «**♦♦#* # 
 
 illen so I 
 And yet I ua- once \W<- this beautiful snow 
 
 \V. \\.\i 
 
SNO U -PL J RITl ': Hi WAX PERFECTION. I J I 
 
 It is the degradation of the human family that we are 
 called upon to contemplate no less than its exaltation. 
 Sinful dispositions and habits, allied with adverse cir- 
 cumstances, their usual consequences, have wrought 
 through long periods to crush man down and efface the 
 Divine image wherein he was created. The cruel, im- 
 moral, bestialized savage is not the original man, but the 
 degradation of the original. Had savagery been the 
 primitive condition of mankind, it is scarcely conceiva- 
 ble that he ever could have emerged from it. Savages 
 left to themselves continue savages, show no signs of 
 progression, stagnate, deteriorate. There is no historical 
 evidence, says Rawlinson, of savages having civilized 
 themselves; no instance on record of their ever having 
 been raised out of their miserable condition by any other 
 means than by contact with a civilized race. The torch 
 of civilization is handed on from age to age, from race to 
 race. If it were once extinguished, there is great doubt 
 whether it could ever be relighted.* 
 
 Here in the spiritual sphere it is even as naturalists 
 have proved it to be in the material world, the germs of 
 life when once obliterated from any space, can never by 
 spontaneous generation be restored. Life is brought in 
 from without, it never is born from within. A death- 
 smitten space, if it shall bloom once more with vital 
 beauty, must receive its germs from some other force or 
 will than that which lies within itself. 
 
 The Bible scheme of redemption presents God as 
 the external Force, the Divine Will seeking to restore 
 our race from a lost condition. Heaven has labored 
 through the ages to inspire man with desire to regain 
 his moral standing; and thus animated we behold him 
 struggling up, fostering the hope and aspiration for 
 heavenly things, sometimes gaining the heights and 
 again plunged into the depths; now walking on the 
 highway of holiness, and again plunged in the mire; 
 floundering helplessly or sparing loftily, but amidst all 
 changes and discouragements struggling upward toward 
 God by the help of God. 
 
 * Rawlinson — "Antiquity of Man Historically Considered," 
 page 26. 
 
1 72 THE GOSPEL IN NA TL 'RE. 
 
 It has been announced by Heaven, and recognized by- 
 man himself, that this restoration cannot be attained by- 
 self-help. " Come now," we read, " and let us reason to- 
 gether," saith the Lord. " Though your sins be as scar- 
 let, they shall be white as snow."* " Purge me with 
 hyssop and I shall be clean," is the cry of the penitent 
 Psalmist unto God ; " Wash me and I shall be whiter 
 than snow!" " Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and 
 renew a right spirit within me."t 
 
 The old Testament starting-point for this work of re- 
 demption seems to be the presentation of God as a Being 
 of perfect holiness. Men, we know, never rise higher in 
 moral excellence than the deities whom they warship. 
 It would have been strange, indeed, if the worship of 
 such corrupt, quarrelsome, and licentious divinities as 
 composed the Pantheon of Greece and Rome should 
 have produced any other effect upon the life of their vo- 
 taries than that moral corruption which history declares. 
 To effect and maintain purity of morals on the part of 
 the Hebrews it was necessary that their God should be 
 presented to them as one of Infinite Holiness. This at- 
 tribute accordingly we see everywhere represented and 
 conveyed in the requirements of the Ceremonial Law. 
 
 Cleanliness, it has been said, is next to godliness. In 
 one sense it is certainly true. The thought of moral 
 purity associates itself closely with bodily purity. When 
 the Israelites came up out of" Egypt to receive from Je T 
 hovah a law, a church, a theology that should lift them 
 into a high position as a nation.it was taken for granted 
 that knowledge of and belief in God as a Holy Being 
 must lie at the foundation of all progress toward per- 
 sonal purity in man. But how should that idea be con- 
 veyed to and kept prominent before a people who had 
 long been debased by a condition of expatriation, bond- 
 age, social and religious communion with the gross idol- 
 atries of Egypt? No doubt this question lies at the base 
 of the grand system of object-teaching presented in the 
 ceremonial law ol M< 1 
 
 Observe how the idea (.("physical purity was intro- 
 
 Liah i. is. t Psalm li. 7-10. % Philosophj of the Plan of Sal- 
 vation. 
 
SNOW-PURITY: HUMAN PERFECTION. 173 
 
 duced into the ordinary laws of health. Ceremony was 
 associated with moral ideas. Contact with any unclean 
 thing, with the dead, with bone, with contagious dis- 
 eases, rendered the individual unfit for religious service 
 and set him aside from the congregation of the people. 
 Frequent washings were associated with worship; the 
 beasts that were naturally or by experience most repug- 
 nant or injurious as human food were put under the ban 
 as unclean meat. No unclean thing, no clean beast if 
 marred in any wise, could be offered to Jehovah as a sac- 
 rifice. All offerings were without blemish and without 
 spot.* Priests were required to be physically perfect 
 men.f Externally they were clothed in garments of 
 finest white linen on which no stain was tolerated. 
 Frequent ablutions were compelled in all their ap- 
 proaches to the altar and in their conduct of Divine wor- 
 ship.! In this manner, advancing along the thought 
 that in the human mind the idea of cleanliness lies very 
 near to godliness, the Hebrew was led to regard sin 
 as a moral impurity, most hateful to God, who at the 
 same time was held before him in all this symbolism as 
 a Being of Infinite Holiness. 
 
 Above all, this thought was held before the Hebrew 
 by the "sacrifices of the altar. A Holy God cannot suffer 
 sin to go without punishment or propitiation. Sin must 
 be atoned for. This fact preserved within men the sense 
 of sin's impurity; it preserved that sense of justice in 
 dealing with sin without which righteousness cannot ex- 
 ist ; it maintained the duty of every soul to rise out of 
 sin daily into a state of purity. If you say the con- 
 dition of the Hebrew offerer of sacrifice was only one of 
 legal holiness, even if admitted, one will see that the 
 sense of forensic purity before God was well calculated 
 to lift up the soul to an ideal ; to encourage one to attain 
 in fact his status in law. But there can be no doubt that 
 something more than this resulted from the sacrificial 
 rite. It was God's ordinance for bestowing upon the 
 penitent an impulse towards the higher life as well as 
 the sense of a legal or formal purity. 
 
 *See Leviticus generally, especially chapters xi-xvi. f Lev. xxi. 
 17-21. \ Numb. xix. 7-22. 
 
i~4 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Let us not dwell longer here. These sacrifices of the 
 law of Israel were only types and shadows of that one 
 Perfect Sacrifice which was to come. The people of 
 those early generations walked upward along the ages 
 towards that sublime Figure lifted upon the cross of 
 Mount Calvary. The Church of the Old Testament 
 moved towards the Rising Sun of a Perfect Faith whose 
 rays touched and bathed indeed that cross of Golgotha, 
 but left only its great shadow stretching backward, with- 
 in which the ages ever moved. Yet as they neared the 
 summit, the shadow shortened ; and when at last in the 
 fullness of God's own time the True Israel, the Holy 
 People stood on the brow of Calvary and laid their hand 
 upon the Cross of Jesus, lo! they had passed from 
 beneath the shadow! for the perfect day had come and 
 the sun shone in the zenith. Henceforth the Cross shall 
 cast no shadow! Human hopes are realized, human 
 faith is perfected, shadows and types have ceased, because 
 Jesus the Lamb of God, the one Sacrifice for sin, has 
 been offered upon the altar of the Cross once for all. 
 
 This is the point to which we are come to-day. Here 
 let us rest. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, according 
 to the appointment of God's scheme of redemption. 
 
 the soul from the guilt of sin. God pardons for 
 Christ's sake those who receive the work and offering of 
 Jesus as made for them, but the gracious gift does not 
 -top there. It is impossible for men to receive Jesus 
 Christ by faith without also receiving the Hoi}- Ghost 
 within them a in of a new spiritual life. Salva- 
 
 tion means something more.- than a formal pardon, some- 
 thing more than the criminal's acquittal or his discharge 
 from the judgment of law. It means the bestowment 
 erminal life- of holiness which shall develop until 
 til-- believer's being shall Ik- p. • th, and he 
 
 become in fact what he is in law, purified before the 
 eternal God. Justification is the sinner's legal purifica- 
 tion, it purges hi. record b<f' we the law. Sanctificatioti 
 i- th-- actual imparting to the sinner of tin.- germs of 
 purification, insuring for him the ingrowth and out- 
 growth of a character and life which shall be made per- 
 fect in the holiness of heaven. 
 
SM > // -PL RIT) -.- HUMAN PERFECTION. 175 
 
 As disciples and followers of Christ we are called to- 
 day to the conflict with sin. It is ours to stand for 
 whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report. 
 Man has fallen. It is ours to raise him. This is a lost 
 world, but, thank God ! it is also a found world since 
 Christ has died. It is our duty and privilege to bring 
 the knowledge of this gracious truth to the ears of the 
 erring. Most men, like bottles in the glass blower's 
 hand, are blown into shape by the breath of other men; 
 and some are vessels to honor and some to dishonor ; 
 some are as the toper's flask, some as the dandy's per- 
 fume bottle; some as the apothecary's vial to bear heal- 
 ing medicine to the sick. Oh, you who deal with the 
 plastic metal of mortal and immortal souls, take heed 
 how you breathe within them and upon them the breath 
 of an influence that shall shape their destiny for all time 
 and eternity ! 
 
 But be assured, there can be no power with you to 
 shape men into purity of life until you yourself have 
 cleansed your soul at the fountain of all holiness. If 
 you would be a true knight of virtue you must first re- 
 ceive from the Divine Master's hand the stroke and sig- 
 net of your knighthood. Will you kneel before him 
 here and now, and yield you to the high chivalry of 
 holiness, body and soul, for time and eternity? Two 
 ways open before you, the service of Christ in purity of 
 heart and life, or the service of self in sinful continuance 
 in evil. The course of your life will inevitably be di- 
 rected by the nature, inclination, and desires of your 
 heart. Buzzards fly to a carcass. They will soar aloft 
 in the air, most beautiful creatures of motion, looking 
 like angels in the upper sky, so gracefully do they move 
 upon their spiral courses. But let the sight of a carcass 
 on the plain below catch the eyes of the graceful things, 
 and at once they swing passionately downward and 
 revel in the body of uncleanness and death. It is their 
 nature — they are buzzards ! 
 
 Bees fly to honey ! All day long they hum and flutter 
 over beds of flowers and blossoming vines, passing by 
 whatever of unloveliness may lie in their flight to settle 
 always within the cups of nectar-bearing flowers. Bees 
 
176 THE GOSPEL IX NATURE. 
 
 to the flowers ! Buzzards to the carcass ! Spiritual 
 honey-bearers or moral scavengers ? Which is the bet- 
 ter object in this God's world of ours ? And which part, 
 O brother, will you choose ? 
 
 While the pendulum swings the clock will speak out, 
 tick-tock from the wheels; ding-dong from the bell. 
 It may speak a false hour, but it will speak. Life is that 
 clock. While the pulse of life beats on, man will speak 
 notes of guidance and truth, notes of guidance and 
 error. True or false, one or the other, life shall give its 
 voice into the world. What shall it be ? May the Di- 
 vine Master so lay his hand upon the delicate wheels of 
 vour being that they shall ever keep time to the move- 
 ment of the Heavens, and voice forth to the world and 
 show forth from the dial of your daily living a heart 
 and life in unison with the Sun of Righteousness. 
 
 Perhaps I am speaking to some one to-day who is 
 deeply conscious that his soul is stained with sin and 
 needs a Saviour for purification, but who is plunged in 
 deep despondency. " Alas !" you cry, " my hope is per- 
 ished. 1 am lost. My sun has gone down. It is night 
 with me !" Well, yes, it is night, but with the night up 
 come the stars ; and soon also the moon, full and fair, 
 bathing the world with its silver glory. Then, by and 
 by, lo ! in the east show the purple streakings of dawn ; 
 and see ! there is the day-spring from on high, the up- 
 risen sun, once more, and the world is rosy and bright. 
 So human hopes rise and set; they give way to lesser 
 lights, sometimes to greater; sometimes to darkness. 
 But they keep on and on, and man never ceases to hope. 
 Sweet hope! when nights have ceased to darken, when 
 stars and moon yield no more radiance, when the orb of 
 this earthly day shall rise and set no more, then in the 
 realm of eternal hope we shall bathe our souls forever 
 in the light of heaven, whereof the Lamb is the light, 
 a steady, sweet, glorious shining that shall never waver 
 nor lessen, but shall widen as the years of eternity roll. 
 
LECTURE X. 
 
 The Rainfall. 
 
 ii He shall come down like rain upon the mozvn 
 grass.^ — Psalm lxxii. 6. 
 
THE RAINFALL. 
 
 The allusions to rain in Holy Scripture are very fre- 
 quent, as one would expect with so common and im- 
 portant a natural phenomenon. It is used to express 
 figuratively the thoughts of inspired writers, in a 
 double sense, according as it is viewed from the stand- 
 point of the disadvantages, dangers, and losses which it 
 sometimes involved, or the blessings resulting from it. 
 For example, God is represented as a covert from the 
 rain into which the soul has fled when the storm beats 
 upon him.* The overflowing shower is an emblem of the 
 Divine judgment upon sinners, f and Divine wrath de- 
 scending upon the godless is represented under the 
 emblem of falling rain. | A sweeping rain is an apt 
 figure of a needy man who oppresses his poor neighbor,§ 
 and the continual drop, drop, dropping on a rainy day 
 beomes in the Proverbialist's mind a fitting figure of a 
 contentious woman. || Our Saviour uses the beating 
 rains and floods that gather in the dry beds of streams 
 after heavy showers, to represent the temptations, griefs, 
 and cares which break upon the souls of men, destruct- 
 ively in the case of those who "without foundation" 
 have built their faith upon the sands, but vainly in the 
 case of those who have reared the structure of their 
 eternal hope upon the everlasting rock of Christ's truth. ^[ 
 
 On the other hand, rain is frequently used as the em- 
 blem of all that is blessed and desirable in both temporal 
 and spiritual things. The coming of the "former" and 
 the " latter" rains is constantly viewed in Scripture as 
 the realization of all the hopes of the agriculturist. 
 When we remember that Palestine was substantially an 
 agricultural country, even more of a farming community 
 than the United States, we can readily see how much 
 
 *Isa. iv. 6. fEzek. xxxviii. 22. J Job xx. 23. I Prov. xxviii. 3. 
 Prov. xxvii. 15. % Matt. vii. 25. 
 
 (i79) 
 
1 80 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 this meant. In the song of Moses "which he spake in 
 the ears of all the Assembly of Israel " his Heavenly doc- 
 trine is represented as dropping as the rain. 
 
 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, 
 My Speech shall distill as the dew ; 
 As the small rain on the tender grass, 
 And as showers upon the herb. 
 
 The outgoing Word of God in its descent upon an 
 expectant people, and the triumphant and joyful accept- 
 ance of the same, is represented in Isaiah as the rain 
 that cometh down and watereth the earth and maketh 
 it bring forth and bud, while all the mountains and hills, 
 glad at the refreshing showers, break forth into singing, 
 and the trees of the field clap hands. f Job' represents 
 the eagerness with which his retainers and neighbors 
 awaited his coming in the day of prosperity as like 
 the eagerness with which the farmer looks for the 
 fruitgiving rains.| In Solomon's Song the ceasing of 
 the heavy winter showers and the beginning of spring 
 when buds are opening, and flowers blooming and 
 the fragrance of blossoming grapevines fills the air, 
 is an emblem of that period in the soul's history when 
 one is born into the new life, and all heaven and 
 earth seem to be rejoicing in sympathy therewith. § 
 These are some of the lessons which the inspired writers 
 have enfolded within the phenomenon n\ the tailing rain. 
 We shall have something to do with them hereafter; but 
 the lesson which we have to learn to-day from the rain- 
 fall is the Manifestation of Divine Power in the coming 
 of Jesus Christ. The lesson will perhaps best be indi- 
 cated by reading the whole passage from which our text 
 is taken. 
 
 1 Give to the king Thy judgments, OGod, 
 And Thy righteousness unto the king's son ! 
 
 2 Let 1 liiu govern Thy people with righteousn* 
 And judge thine afflicted withjusti< e. 
 
 3 Let the mountains bring peace to the people, 
 And the hills bring peace by righteousness. 
 
 .; Lei him judge the poor of the people. 
 I ..t him save the children of the n< 
 And break in pieces the oppressor! 
 
 Mkut. xxxii. 2. (-Isa. lv. 10,1a. tjob wrix. 23. {Canticles 
 
 ii. 11-13. 
 
THE RAINFALL. l8l 
 
 5 May they have Thee in fear while the sun endures 
 And while the moon shineth, — to all generations ! 
 
 6 May He come down like rain on the grass of the meadow, 
 As showers, as downpouring rain upon earth. 
 
 7 In His days may the righteous ones blossom unhindered, 
 And fullness of peace, till the moon be no more ; 
 
 S May He have the dominion from sea to sea, 
 And from the river to the ends of the earth.* 
 
 The beautiful imagery of this Psalm presents to us a 
 picture of the coming of the Christ to exercise his do- 
 minion upon earth. The descending rains renovate the 
 whole surface of the land and exercise a sovereign in- 
 fluence upon the vegetable kingdom; they quicken 
 seeds to life, develop grain and fruits, reclothe fields, 
 vineyards, and forests, and spread blessings everywhere 
 for the children of men. So in the vision of the pro- 
 phetic Psalmist should it be when Messiah should come. 
 He would dominate the souls of men; society should be 
 renovated ; the world should bend to the yoke of his 
 thought; from the Mediterranean to the utmost seas, 
 and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth, his 
 spiritual sceptre should extend and bless the children of 
 men. This then is the thought upon which we are to 
 dwell, the power of Christ in renovating society. 
 
 I. The prediction of the Psalmist has been fulfilled. 
 The manifestation of Jesus in the world has been with 
 Mighty Power for the Subjugation of our race. We are 
 not thinking of physical power alone, the might of war, 
 the strength of numbers, the potency of wealth, com- 
 merce and culture, but of the power of Purity and Love, 
 of Religious Truth and the Spiritual Life. We shall 
 presently trace some striking examples of this Christ 
 Sovereignty over men; but let us first turn to the book 
 of nature for such facts as may lie hidden within the 
 metaphor of the Psalmist, and which may show us what 
 an idea of power the rainfall is competent to express. 
 "Unto the place," says the wise Preacher, "whence 
 the rivers come, thither they return again. "f In other 
 words, the waters of the Amazon, Mississippi, St. Law- 
 
 * Ps. lxxii. i-8. f Eccl. i. 7. 
 
i 82 rni: <;< >s /•/:/. in x. i TL re. 
 
 rence, of all the great rivers of America, Europe, and 
 Asia, are lifted up by the atmosphere, and are con- 
 tinually flowing in invisible vapor streams back through 
 the air to their sources among the hills. 
 
 Moreover, these invisible channels through which they 
 flow are so regular, certain, and well defined that the 
 quantity thus conveyed oneyearwith the other is nearly 
 the same, inasmuch as the amount of water discharged 
 annually by each river is, as far as can be judged, nearly 
 constant. In view of this general statement we may 
 form some conception of what a powerful machine the 
 atmosphere must be; and though it is apparently so 
 capricious and wayward in its movements, we see further 
 that it gives evidence of order and arrangement, that it 
 performs its mighty office with regularity and certainty, 
 and is therefore as obedient to law as is the steam-engine 
 to the will of its builder. Indeed, as Lieut. Maury has 
 remarked, it too is an engine. The South Seas them- 
 selves with their vast intertropical extent are the boiler 
 tor that atmospheric engine, and the northern hemisphere 
 c< mdenser. 
 
 Let us pass from this general statement to particulars, 
 for which I am indebted to one of our own citi/.en-, Mr. 
 John Birkinbine, engineer. Not to weary you with 
 Statistics and details, I will limit my illustrations to facts 
 concerning the rainfall over the surface of Philadelphia 
 alone, which is equal to about one hundred and twenty- 
 nine and one-third square miles (accuratel) 1 2 
 square miles). According to observations at the Penn- 
 sylvania Hospital, the < rainfall over the area ol 
 Philadelphia for fifty-! irs was forty-five and ninc- 
 hundredths inches or thre I hundred 
 and sixty-six thousandths The a\ mount 
 of rain tailing upon the city is therefore equal to nearly 
 one hundred and two billions four hundred and twenty- 
 five millions of net tons weight. This is about th 
 
 the weight of the output of anthracite coal in the 
 
 of Pennsylvania during the year of our Lord 1886, 
 that output having been thirty-three millions of 
 
 •Libut.Mai tions," vol. I., 1858, page at. 
 
THE RAINFALL. 1 83 
 
 tons. It is more than seventy-five times as much as the 
 greatest annual production of iron in the State, which 
 was nearly five and three-quarter millions of gross 
 tons. 
 
 Descending from the annual rainfall to the estimate of 
 a single heavy rain, we have these startling facts : On 
 August 4th, 1885, there was a rainfall of four and forty- 
 six hundredths inches. That means a downfall of more 
 than ten billions of gallons upon the area of Philadel- 
 phia, weighing forty-two millions of tons. That single 
 rain therefore deposited on the area of our city a weight 
 of water greater by over twelve per cent, than the total 
 amount of anthracite coal mined in 1886, or more than 
 one-half of the weight of the total crop of corn, wheat, 
 and oats in the United States during the same year. 
 
 The automatic recording water-gauge connected with 
 the office of the Water Department at Thirteenth and 
 Spring Garden streets, Philadelphia, showed that on the 
 morning of November 18th, 1886, fifty-two hundredths 
 or about one-half an inch of rain fell in nine minutes. 
 Such a rainfall over the area of Philadelphia is equiva- 
 lent to a flow of two hundred and ninety thousand cubic 
 feet per second, which is fifteen thousand feet per second 
 more than the average flow of water over the Falls of 
 Niagara. Think of it, a little summer dash like that 
 sets loose upon our roof-tops and streets a greater 
 stream than pours from the mighty cataract of Niagara. 
 Well may the street contractors bless the helpful rain 
 that supplements their lagging efforts to fulfill their 
 obligations to the city. Yet more may suffering citizens 
 bless the healthful showers that sweep our streets, flush 
 our sewers, purge our gutters, and bring us blessings of 
 health and purity. 
 
 If you are not wearied with these immense sums, per- 
 mit me to take one further example from the facts pro- 
 cured for us by our patient engineer. The total weight 
 of water in the atmosphere surrounding the whole earth 
 is estimated at the enormous figure of fifty-four thou- 
 sand four hundred and sixty billions of tons. Of such 
 a weight we can form no conception, much less realize 
 how it can be held in suspension, and moved back and 
 
1 84 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl 'RE. 
 
 forth through the channels appointed for its distribution 
 and circulation. But that problem, as we have seen, has 
 been solved by the Almighty Mind and Power back of 
 all nature's operations, and some elements of the forces 
 which enter into the solution we are able at least ap- 
 proximately to determine. It is probable that the great- 
 est proportion, perhaps five-tenths, of this vapory ocean 
 within the atmosphere, is confined within a stratum or 
 belt reaching to the height of six thousand five hun- 
 dred feet above the level. Let us, however, assume the 
 average height to which the vapor that is distilled upon 
 Philadelphia as rain must be elevated from its source in 
 the ocean, lakes, and running streams, to be ten thousand 
 feet. Let us further take the familiar standard of thirty- 
 three thousand pounds raised through one foot of 
 height per minute as equal to one horse-power. We 
 shall then reach the conclusion that to raise the amount 
 of water contained in one inch of rainfall over the area 
 of Philadelphia to a height of ten thousand feet requires 
 nearly four millions of horse-power. 
 
 Have you any idea of the force represented in this 
 sum total ? It is greater than the total amount of steam 
 and water power employed in all the manufacturing 
 establishments of the United States as reported at the 
 last census. So that the entire manufacturing industry 
 of the republic has not sufficient power connected with 
 it to raise in one day the water represented by one inch of 
 rainfall upon the area of Philadelphia. This means that 
 the whole steam and water power of the United States, if 
 working together to that one end, could not furnish 
 more than twelve per cent, or one-eighth of the force 
 -ary to elevate the amount of rain which has fallen 
 in one day over the area of Philadelphia. 
 
 Take another comparison. If we go back to that No- 
 vember dash of rain during which a little over one-half 
 inch of water fell in nine minutes, we find that to raise 
 an equal amount in the same time to the height of ten 
 
 thousand feet, would require the development of three 
 hundred and twenty-nine millions horse-power! In 
 other words, the entire force which the cataract of Niag- 
 ara could produce in nine hours would be scarcely suffi- 
 
THE RAINFALL. 1 85 
 
 cient to elevate to cloud level the water which fell on 
 the city of Philadelphia in nine minutes* 
 
 I confess that when I first read these figures I was 
 filled with amazement at the vast amount of power exer- 
 cised by the sunbeams — for it all amounts to that — in 
 pumping up vapor of water into the clouds, and the 
 equally vast power which is represented in the natural 
 force or forces that reduce this vapor of water and cause 
 its precipitation upon the face of the earth. Yet why 
 should we be surprised? At whatever point we may 
 touch nature we shall find that it gives forth like facts to 
 careful observation, intelligent thought, and the skillful 
 hand. But I must pass now from these statistics, to 
 those great spiritual lessons towards which our thoughts 
 are tending, and for which alone these facts are here 
 of paramount value to us. Are we to suppose that the 
 Psalmist who used the rainfall as a figure of the do- 
 minion of the Christ, knew what vast ideas of force were 
 covered up within his metaphor? Not at all; doubt- 
 less the inspired writers were often but dimly conscious 
 of the great truths which they uttered in types and 
 shadows, in parable and figure of speech. But never- 
 theless, the truth lay within their imagery and was known 
 to the Divine Mind. History unfolded the meaning as 
 the years rolled on, and we to-day may see better even 
 than the prophets saw 'the sublime facts that lay con- 
 cealed within their words. With our fuller view of the 
 natural force expended by the rainfall and knowledge of 
 the History of Christianity, we may here affirm that the 
 Psalmist's prediction as declared under the imagery of 
 the descending rain has been more than fulfilled. It was 
 a new manifestation of power made by the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the power of religious life, the power of an im- 
 mortal hope, the power of holiness in the soul. The 
 world learned through Christianity as it never had con- 
 ceived before the kingship of the simple truth, the 
 potency of purity, of love, of all spiritual ideas to sway 
 the thinking and lives of men, and so in the end to bring 
 nations into obedience to the sceptre of the Divine 
 Teacher. We turn to History for examples of this fact. 
 
 *See a paper bv Mr. John Birkinbine in "Franklin Institute 
 Journal," vol. CXXIII., No. 735. 
 
1 86 THE GOSPEL >IN NA Tl 'RE. 
 
 i. Christianity showed its power by revolutionizing 
 society as to the nature and standing of woman. The 
 bonds of a thousand generations fixed in the customs, 
 laws, religion, and perhaps more strongly still, in the 
 passions and avarice of men, were broken by the new- 
 power manifest in the Church of Christ. There was not 
 a nation of the ancient world, with the single exception 
 of the Hebrews, among whom women, as a class, held 
 an honorable position, or in any wise approached com- 
 panionship with man. Solon, the wise Greek, viewed 
 woman as a household drudge, with whom rational inter- 
 course and friendship were impossible. Aristotle re- 
 garded women as intermediate between freemen and 
 slaves. The greatest of Hellenic philosophers declared 
 that state radically disordered in which wives should 
 claim to be equals of their husbands. Plato even went 
 so far as to suggest a community of wives on the ground 
 that children so brought into life would be wholly de- 
 voted to the state. Grecian women purchased the right 
 to frequent public lectures, 'and associate on terms of 
 equality with artists and scholars, only at the costliest 
 price conceivable — their virtue. At Syracuse no free 
 woman was allowed to go out after sunset except for 
 immoral purposes. A woman was regarded always as 
 a minor and never free. Pericles said that her glory was 
 that no one should speak to her. Such was the stand- 
 ing of women with that people who were peerless in 
 art, letters, and philosophy. 
 
 The same opinions and customs substantial ly pre- 
 vailed among the Romans. It was a fundamental con- 
 ception <>f the law at Rome that woman should never be 
 independent. The legal status of the wife was that of a 
 iter, the sister of her own children. Her property 
 became her husband's. Her consent was not necessary 
 to the marriage of her daughters. The husband had at 
 least a qualified power over her life for even petty of- 
 fenses. She could not after his death be the legal guard- 
 ian of her own infant children. Habitual and contempt- 
 uous distrust of the sex was in the very life of the 
 governing classes. It ruled custom, shaped statutes, 
 and entered with depraved and dominating force the 
 
THE RAINFALL. 1 87 
 
 highest minds.* She was the slave and toy of man, 
 rarely his friend and companion, and never received 
 honor, as Christian women count honor, except in the 
 case of the vestal virgins. With the laws and customs 
 of society thus hardly discriminating against her, it is 
 not strange that the cruel foot of the strong sex had 
 trampled her moral and intellectual nature into the very 
 mud of an unspeakable social impurity, the crudest 
 wrong of all, and the most fatal in its consequences to 
 the nation. 
 
 If Rome and Greece, foremost of the pagan nations 
 in point of civilization, maintained this attitude towards 
 women, you may readily conceive what was her position 
 amongst the other nations of the world at the time that 
 the Son of God became incarnate. What was the atti- 
 tude of Christ and his apostles towards women ? We 
 know that " The Women Friends of Jesus" were among 
 his most trusted and beloved followers. They were 
 honored with his friendship, they received equally with 
 their men friends the lessons of saving truth and wis- 
 dom which he spake. His attitude towards the sex was 
 always and everywhere one of helpfulness and equality. 
 His utterance upon marriage and divorce was a law of 
 emancipation, and drew a protecting barrier around 
 wifehood and motherhood. It sealed the sanctity of 
 marriage. It proclaimed with divine sanction the law 
 of monogamy, the right of one man to one wife only — 
 the right of every wife to her husband alone. 
 
 This position was maintained by the apostles of 
 Jesus. St. Paul was the most conspicuous champion 
 of womankind among the founders of Christianity. He 
 declared her equal with man before Christ. He labored 
 for her conversion equally with that of man. The first 
 converts made by him in Europe were women. He gave 
 them a place in the Church as fellow-laborers, sharers 
 even of the offices of the Church. The names of Lydia, 
 Phoebe, Priscilla, the elect lady, and numbers of others 
 mentioned in the New Testament with honor and ap- 
 plause show how Paul and the primitive Christians, in 
 
 * Dr. Storrs — "The Divine Origin of Christianity Indicated 
 by its Historical Effects," pages 148, sqq. 
 
1 88 THE GOSPEL IN NA TL RE. 
 
 obedience to their Master's law, were revolutionizing 
 the ideas and customs of the pagan world concerning 
 the nature and standing of woman. 
 
 Indeed this action was the logical result of a funda- 
 mental principle of Christianity, viz., that spiritual pow- 
 ers arc more than, or at least equal to mere physical 
 force; that the standard of one's position before God 
 and in the Church is neither sex, nor wealth, nor cul- 
 ture, nor social standing — but spiritual estate and attain- 
 ments. Before the tribunal of Christian law there is 
 neither male nor female, bond nor free, Jew nor Gentile, 
 barbarian nor Scythian — all arc one in Jesus Christ. 
 Women therefore were honored, loved, and respected, 
 because they possessed gifts of heart and mind equally 
 with man, although they were not equal in point of bare 
 physical force. This germinal thought, which at once 
 lifted society beyond the standard of mere brute force, 
 and fixed for the ideal of humanity a spiritual and intel- 
 lectual character, operated inevitably to the exaltation 
 of womankind. All this seems very simple and easy as 
 we" state it here. Christianity has educated us to regard 
 principles as the simplest social axioms. We take 
 them as a matter of course. We can hardly conceive 
 how it had ever been or ever could have been other- 
 wise; yet it was not without a mighty struggle that the 
 religion of Jesus Christ slowly permeated mankind, 
 weakened and at last broke the fetters of female oppres- 
 sion, and lifted woman to the place where Christ had 
 appointed and would keep her, side by sick' with man, 
 both in the Church of the Living God and "the Church 
 that is within the lv Think how much was in- 
 
 volved in this! It is absolutely certain that under ev< ry 
 ol society the mind of women must shape the 
 character of childhood. As the child is but the " father 
 of the man," a degenerate mother means degenerate 
 children, degenerate society, a degenerafc Hut 
 
 woman exalted, refined, purified, means the placing of a 
 nerating and savii at the very fountains of a 
 
 nation's worth. This Christ has done for women, this 
 He has done for the world. 
 
 It is not strange that in all ages i4~ the world Jesus of 
 
THE RAINFALL. 1 89 
 
 Nazareth has counted among his most devoted followers 
 those who have received from his hands such inestima- 
 ble blessings. Surely if ever Christianity is threatened 
 by lax laws concerning the Sabbath, by laws that break 
 down the sanctity of marriage relations, by the progress 
 of scepticism and irreligion, woman's voice should be 
 the first to raise the cry of alarm, and woman's hand 
 should first advance the standard of Christ and rally to 
 its defense. It is not strange that among the warmest 
 friends of Foreign Missions are Christian women, whose 
 hearts go out in tender pity towards their sisters in 
 pagan lands still oppressed by customs and laws such 
 as degraded the nations in the days of Jesus. "Woman's 
 work for women" is wrought by a lofty love for Jesus, 
 by a sense of gratitude for what He has done for them, 
 and by the profoundest sisterly sympathy with those 
 whose bonds are yet unbroken, and who never can feel 
 the joy of deliverance until the mighty power of Jesus 
 shall come down for the renovation of society like rain 
 upon the wilderness. 
 
 2. Nothing perhaps gives us abetter idea of the moral 
 condition of a nation than the character of its general 
 amusements. The pleasures of Rome for many years were 
 excited by scenes of slaughter. The Roman gladiatorial 
 combats stand well nigh alone and unequaled in human 
 history for ferocity. The Coliseum, pictures of whose 
 ruins are in many of your homes, which is the most 
 imposing and characteristic relic of pagan Rome, was 
 simply a theatre for the slaughter of human beings as a 
 pastime, an amusement not only for the populace, but 
 the noble men and ladies of high rank. These gladia- 
 tors were trained athletes, captives of war, for the most 
 part, who fought each other to death in the arena with 
 net, dagger, lance, trident, and swords ground to the 
 finest edge and point. At the triumph of Aurelian eight 
 hundred pairs of gladiators fought. During the games 
 of Trajan ten thousand men thus fought. Even female 
 gladiators contended with -each other. Sea battles were 
 arranged, as by Caesar, Augustus, and memorably by 
 Claudius, who sent two fleets with nineteen thousand 
 
190 THE GOSPEL IX X ATI' RE. 
 
 men upon them to a desperate contest on Lake Fucinus, 
 for the mere amusement of the throngs of spectators 
 covering the surrounding shores. Christians and other 
 condemned prisoners were sometimes burned in shirts of 
 pitch to illuminate the gardens, or were hung on crosses 
 and left to be torn by famished bears for the amusement 
 of the populace. These horrible entertainments were 
 varied by conflicts of wild beasts. Under Nero four 
 hundred tigers fought with elephants and bulls. At the 
 dedication of the Coliseum by Titus five thousand 
 animals were killed. "There is scarcely one element of 
 horror," says Dr. Storrs, " which can be conceived in 
 man's wildest dreams which was not presented as a 
 matter of luxury to make complete the ' Roman Holi- 
 day ' at the time when Christianity entered the capital."* 
 Shocking as these details must be to your sensibilities, 
 I have only culled from authentic sources those which 
 are least horrifying. Remember now that these atrocities 
 were not simply sporadic, occasional events, the result 
 of some wild outburst of passion, prejudice, or bigotry. 
 They were the habitual amusements of the people. From 
 the highest to the lowest they were indulged in and 
 enjoyed to the full. Amongst those who constantly wit- 
 nessed them, and for whom seats were always reserved, 
 were representatives of illustrious families, .senators, 
 judges, philosophers, poets, ladies of highest rank and 
 breeding. Even the vestal virgins in their sacred dress 
 came there and sat in seats of honor to gaze upon the 
 gladiatorial " shows." The whole nation was mad after 
 these scenes of blood. Men and women, noble and base, 
 all and all alike gloated over and glutted their cruel 
 hearts upon deeds, the bare recital of which excites in 
 us emotions of horror. In holiday garb, surrounded by 
 gay tapestry, amid festoons of flowers and statues of 
 gods, while particolored awnings shone in the sun, and 
 bright decorations fluttered in the wind, these women 
 and men laughed, applauded, and shouted with joy to 
 see these scores, hundreds, thousands of their fellow- 
 creatures solely for the sport of spectators mutilating, 
 
 * " The Divine Origin of Christianity," page 259. 
 
THE RAINFALL. 191 
 
 slaying each other in the space beneath them, until the 
 arena ran red with blood I 
 
 The control of the civilized world was centered in the 
 Empire of Rome. The destinies of Rome were in the 
 hands of one man — Augustus Caesar. He was at once 
 commander-in-chief of the army, the head of the Sen- 
 ate abjectly obedient to his will, and the Pontifex Maxi- 
 mus of the state religion. The population of the capi- 
 tal city numbered two millions, one part of whom lived 
 in misery, the other in almost boundless luxury. Well 
 nigh one-half were slaves, and of the rest the greater 
 part were either freedmen or their descendants, or for- 
 eigners. Bad as we know slavery to be from our own 
 bitter experience with African bondage, it was far worse 
 in Rome. Slaves were entirely unprotected. Males and 
 females were exposed to nameless cruelties compared to 
 which death by being thrown to wild beasts in the arena 
 might seem absolute relief. Sick and old slaves were 
 cast out to perish from want. The familiar story, which 
 has been woven into well-known verses by one of our 
 poets, of Parrhasius torturing to death a slave that he 
 might have a model from which to put the true expres- 
 sion of a dying man upon his picture of Prometheus 
 chained to the rocks of Mount Caucasus, is not bare 
 fancy, but an apt expression of the actual condition of 
 the relation between Roman masters and slaves. On 
 the one side was uncontrolled cruelty and oppression, 
 on the other unendurable hate, cunning, and corruption. 
 The freedmen, who had often acquired their liberty by the 
 most disreputable courses and had prospered in them, 
 combined in shameless manner the vices of the free with 
 the vileness of the slave. The foreigners poisoned the 
 springs of life yet more by the corruption which they 
 brought with them. The free citizens were idle, dissi- 
 pated, sunken, engrossed mainly with the sports of the 
 arena. They were mostly supported at the public cost, 
 or were the clients, mere camp followers or paid re- 
 tainers of great men. 
 
 Heartlessness towards the poor who crowded the city 
 was a well-known feature of ancient Roman society. 
 There was absolutely no provision for them. Hospitals 
 
192 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 were unthought of. Charity was a word yet unborn. 
 To bestow alms upon the needy was regarded as only 
 affording them the means of protracting a useless exist- 
 ence. The only escape that remained for these, and for 
 all other miserables of the era, was self-destruction, and 
 this was not only freely advised, but the terrible power 
 was as freely exercised. 
 
 A few noble spirits of the times felt that this state of 
 things was utterly hopeless. Society could not reform 
 itself. Philosophy and religion had nothing to offer ; 
 they had been tried and found wanting. Seneca longed 
 for some hand from without to lift up society from the 
 mire of despair. ' Cicero pictures the enthusiasm which 
 would meet the embodiment of true virtue should it 
 ever appear on earth. Tacitus declared human life one 
 great farce, and expressed his conviction that the Roman 
 world lay under some terrible curse.* 
 
 Had religion no word to speak against such deeds ? 
 No ! This oppression, impurity, and cruelty were wrought 
 under the sanctions of religion. 
 
 Historians well know, although the people do not 
 perhaps often think of it, that the deities of the nations 
 among whom the Gospel was first preached, as Romans 
 and Grecians, were notoriously selfish, cruel, and im- 
 moral. We dare not sully the ears of innocence by 
 naming the character and service of some of their gods. 
 Their worship was sin, a mania of lust; of their temples 
 it could be said, " Her house is the way of hell, going 
 down to the chambers of death." A great horror fills 
 the soul as one thinks that these -were the gods whom 
 children and youth, young men and maidens, matrons 
 and men were taught to adore. 
 
 The only religion on which the state insisted was the 
 deification and worship of the emperor. Not only em- 
 perors, but their wives, paramours, children, and the 
 creatures of their vilest lusts were deified. Nay, any 
 
 private person might attain that distinction if the sur- 
 vivors possessed sufficient means. The most abject 
 superstition dominated the fears of the populace. The 
 
 brshbim — " The Life ami Times of Jesus the Messiah." 
 Vol I., page 15$- 
 
THE RAINFALL. 1 93 
 
 priests practiced unblushing impostures upon the people. 
 Superstition and fraud went hand in hand with blas- 
 phemy, and one might read everywhere such sentiments 
 as this inscribed upon the tomb of a child, " To the 
 unjust gods who robbed me of life ; " or this on the tomb 
 of a girl of twenty, " I lift my hands against the god 
 who took me away innocent as I am." * The idea of 
 conscience, as we understand it, was unknown to this 
 seething mass of heathenism. Absolute right did not 
 exist. Might was right. 
 
 We must keep before us this picture of the world to 
 which Christ came, and we would have a just view of the 
 meaning to the men and women of that era of such 
 Scriptures as these: "The Son of Man is come to seek 
 and to save tJiativliicli is lost /" f " Pure religion and un- 
 defined before God and the Father is this, to visit the 
 fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep 
 himself unspotted from the world." X 
 
 Conceive, if you can, the coming of the Holy Evangel 
 to such a people. Think how its presentation of an in- 
 finitely Holy God, who could look upon sin with no de- 
 gree of allowance, must have been regarded. Imagine 
 what a revolution in all their thinking upon the Divine 
 and moral duty must have followed the acceptance of the 
 doctrine and worship of a Saviour, who demanded Love, 
 Kindness, Peace, Purity! The Gospel of Christ was 
 not only a revelation, but a revolution. It emancipated 
 Woman. It gave Childhood a holy status in society. 
 It quenched in Brotherly Love the cruelty of the arena. 
 It enthroned Purity in the home and Sanctuary. It lift- 
 ed Religion from the mire, and reclothed her with Holi- 
 ness and Authority. It built an altar for Faith upon the 
 human heart, and amid the ashes of despair rekindled 
 the Hope of a blessed Immortality. It conquered hu- 
 man prejudice and passions as they had never been sub- 
 dued before, and that in their deadliest array within 
 their strongest citadel. All this the Gospel did; and 
 this it did by the Power of Jesus the Christ. Yes, from 
 the midst of the wreck of the hoary and colossal in- 
 
 *Edersheim — "The Life and Times of Jesus." f Luke xix. 10. 
 J James i. 27. 
 
194 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 iquitics of the age, the voices of Christ's iocs might be 
 heard saluting the Church rising in glorious form from 
 out the ruins, and crying in the language of the apos- 
 tate Julian, " Thou hast conquered, ( > Nazarerte! " 
 
 This is the faithful testimony of History. May we 
 not stand justified in view thereof in saying that even 
 from the standpoint of our modern knowledge of the 
 immense natural force expended by the rainfall, the 
 Psalmist's prediction of the power of Christ's kingdom 
 made under the figure of the falling rain, has been more 
 than fulfilled ? There are two practical lessons rising 
 out of our theme that invite attention. 
 
 i. The first is a lesson of courage in the face of 
 modern attacks upon Christianity. Christian men and 
 women, standing here with hands full of these proi 
 the power of our Holy Religion to sway nations and era-, 
 will you lose courage before any ioc of Christ? Will you 
 be turned aside from the path of triumph which stretches 
 5 the ages past and leads forward into the conquests 
 of coming time? Ah! it is said, "we must yield to the 
 tendencies of the times." Yield? Who then is lie who 
 seized tin.- tendencies of ancient Greece- and Rome and 
 swayed them here and there as the pilot turns his ship? 
 Do you know His Name? Have you heard, hav 
 t • 1 lis Power? Ah I you hear it said, "we must accept 
 the laws of Progress!" Well, that colossal Figure who 
 towers above every horizon of modern history, whither- 
 r we turn, and holds aloft the sceptre that has 
 swayed forces which have set forward the race along the 
 paths « »f its noblest acti< »n and destiny, He is the world's 
 True Lawgiver! He alone holds the reins of safe ail- 
 ment, and His are the chariot wheels that shall 
 mark out for man the highway to his furthest and loftiest 
 
 progi 
 
 Do nol b deceived ! " The tendency of the tin 
 " Law of progress," arc vain phrases by which to 
 
 the future and determine your duty. There is a 
 
 ship drivii ny Atlantic. Her prow is 
 
 toward- Europe. Now she is crossing the Gulf Stream. 
 
 tendencies arc towards the south. Will she turn 
 
THE RAINFALL. 1 95 
 
 her head from Europe, and follow the trend of the Gulf 
 Stream southward ? I trow not ! On she goes. Now she 
 has steamed into the storm belt. The winds are from the 
 south-east, and they are sweeping up towards Labrador. 
 Strong tendencies in that rough south-east wind towards 
 yon north-west coast! Will the captain turn his vessel's 
 beak from Europe, and follow those tendencies ? Not 
 he ! There is a chart in the captain's room, on which is 
 marked out the vessel's way like a line — a great parallel 
 from port to port. There is a chart in the steering- 
 room too, and the quarter-master at the wheel has his 
 eye upon the course which the sailing-master has given 
 him. "East. East-by-north. East-by-south. East!" So 
 he reads, and steers the vessel along the parallel which 
 the captain has marked for him. 
 
 " Law of progress," forsooth ! " Tendencies of the 
 times," indeed! Do not seek them in the winds, the 
 waves, the currents of this storm-tossed ocean of life! 
 There is our Divine Captain, and here are our chart 
 and sailing directions. Christ is our Captain, and, oh! 
 a mighty and all-wise Pilot has He been. He knows 
 the way and all its turns and terrors. The winds and 
 the waves obey His will. Peace, then, O troubled 
 hearts; be still ! His hand is on the wheel; the Bible 
 is in your hands ; consult and consider that as your sure 
 authority and guide, and all will be safe. Christ and his 
 laws override and direct all tendencies of nations and 
 men, and aside from these there never has been and 
 never will be any permanent progress. 
 
 2. Our second lesson is one of confidence in carrying 
 our Lord's Gospel to heathen nations, and in using it as 
 the sovereign remedy for the social evils of our own 
 land. What has been done, can again be done. Jesus 
 Christ is the Same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Hu- 
 man nature is changeless in its fundamental tendencies 
 and wants. Simply, the conditions of mankind have 
 changed. The old sorrows, the old sins, the old con- 
 flicts are here still. The old hard, world-powers and 
 devils of self, on the one hand, and on the other the poor, 
 the ignorant, and they that are out of the way ; on the 
 
196 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 one hand the cruel heart and heavy hand of Pride, on 
 the other the wail of feebleness, the moan of heart-bro- 
 kenness, the shriek of despair; these old, old forces, 
 follies, miseries are all here and everywhere to-day 
 where men live, struggle, die. And here, too, blessed 
 be God! is " the old, old Story of Jesus and His Love!" 
 Here is the Hand of Almightiness, clothed with the 
 tenderness of Divine Pity, down reached to draw all men 
 unto the Infinite Fatherhood. That old Story is as new, 
 fresh, potent as ever. That Hand is still omnipotent to 
 Save, and it is stretched out still. Have confidence 
 in the Gospel to do the work of human Salvation ! It is 
 able — for He its Divine Author is Able even to the 
 uttermost. Trust Him ; use Him for others' saving ; yes, 
 O Sinner, and for your own ! Reach up thy trembling 
 handling from whatever weakness and loss to the Al- 
 mighty Hand whose very wounds bespeak his yearning 
 love, and suffer Him to lift you up and lead you on, out 
 of this Wilderness into the World of Eternal refreshing 
 and peace. 
 
LECTURE XI. 
 
 Showers of Blessing. 
 
 " There shall be showers of blessing." — Ezekiel 
 xxxiv. 26. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 
 
 When the Children of Israel were led out from Egyp- 
 tian bondage, they had the hope set before them of a 
 land of promise which should be enriched with the 
 dews and rains of heaven. That portion of Egypt, the 
 land of Goshen, in which the Israelites dwelt, was not an 
 infertile land, as is abundantly proved by the ancient re- 
 mains continually being uncovered therein, but its fertil- 
 ity was the result of irrigation. The waters of the Nile 
 were made to do service in irrigating the soil, watering 
 the plants precisely as the waters of the Platte and Arkan- 
 sas rivers are made to serve a like purpose in Colorado 
 to-day. The change from Egypt to Palestine was in this 
 respect a very great one. From a land which was flat, 
 sandy, and well nigh, although not wholly rainless, they 
 passed to a country of mountains, valleys, hills, running 
 streams, and regular seasons of rain. 
 
 In a country of so diversified surface as Palestine, one 
 would naturally expect considerable difference in climate. 
 From the sandy section in the extreme south to the 
 rugged mountains of Galilee in the north; from the low 
 plains of Jericho, which lie in the deep trench of the 
 Jordan, to the lofty slopes of Lebanon and Hermon and 
 the elevated hills round about Jerusalem, the contrast is 
 very great as to elevation, and hence also as to climate. 
 In considering the rainfall of Palestine allowance must 
 therefore be made for these local variations in surface. 
 Allowance must also be made, it is probable, for the 
 great difference between the condition of Palestine at 
 present and its ancient condition. The diminution of 
 vegetation from the entire land, the disappearance of 
 vineyards and wheat fields from the mountain slopes and 
 valleys, but above all the denudation of the mountainous 
 heart of the land of its forest growth, must largely have 
 affected the rainfall. 
 
 (199) 
 
200 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Palestine is suffering to-day just as the United States 
 is beginning to suffer, and in the future will suffer far 
 more unless the foolish and wicked policy which per- 
 mits the wasteful use — I might almost have said, the 
 murderous slaughter — of our native forests, be soon 
 stayed. With the disappearance of trees and vegetables, 
 Palestine has become exposed in a greater degree than 
 in early times to the evils of drought.* The maximum 
 rainfall in the vicinity of Jerusalem is scarcely sufficient 
 at the present time to justify the statements as to the fer- 
 tility of the land which we have in ancient history, f 
 The principal dependence of the inhabitants of Jerusalem 
 for water for domestic uses is the rain collected in cis- 
 terns from the roofs and terraces of their houses, and the 
 greatest diligence and care are required to secure enough 
 for the public comfort. 
 
 With these allowances it may be stated generally, that 
 in Palestine the whole period from October to March 
 constitutes one continued season of rain without any 
 regularly intervening term of prolonged fair weather. 
 The rest of the year is comparatively rainless, and the 
 land becomes dry and chapped. The early and the latter 
 rains, therefore, of which we read frequently in Scrip- 
 ture, for which the husbandmen waited with longing, 
 seem to have been the first showers of autumn which 
 revived the parched and thirsty earth and prepared it 
 for the seed, and the latter showers of spring which con- 
 tinued to refresh and forward both the ripening crops 
 and the vernal products of the field. % 
 
 The autumnal rains are the "former" early rains of 
 Scripture, and usually commence about the beginning 
 of November. They come mostly from the west or 
 south-west, continuing for two or three days at a time, 
 and falling especially during the night. The rains con- 
 tinue with greater or less severity during the entire 
 winter, when the roads, or, more properly speaking, 
 trails or tracks in Palestine become muddy, deep, and 
 slipper}'. | As the winter draws to a close the rains 
 
 ^Stanley — "Sinai and Palestine," page 121. t Wilson & 
 Warren — "The Recovery of Jerusalem," pages 20-21. \ Robin- 
 son — "Researches," vol. I., 429. James v. 7. Prov. xvi. 15. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 201 
 
 become less frequent, but occasional showers, very much 
 like our warm spring rains, fall during the month of 
 March, and even in the early April. These are the 
 "latter" rains which are especially grateful and helpful 
 in forwarding the growing crop and developing the 
 ripening grain.* 
 
 I. We turn from these natural details that lie within 
 the imagery of our text to mark the divine lesson which 
 it enfolds : The Coming of Jesus Christ to the world has 
 vastly increased Human Blessedness. 
 
 The blessings that follow the rainfall have been thus 
 happily expressed by the Psalmist : — 
 
 9 Thou dost visit the earth and waterest her ; 
 Abundantly dost Thou enrich her. 
 The river of God was full of water, 
 For thus Thou preparedst the earth, 
 And providest for men their grain, 
 
 10 Watering the furrows of the land, 
 Softening the ridges thereof; 
 Thou makest her soft with showers, 
 Thou blessest the increase thereof. 
 
 1 1 Thou crownest the year of Thy goodness, 
 And thy pathways drop with fatness, 
 
 12 The wilderness pastures drip, 
 
 And the hills gird themselves with joy ; 
 
 13 The meadows Thou clothest with flocks, 
 And the valleys are mantled with grain ; 
 Everything shouts for joy, 
 Everything everywhere sings. f 
 
 The sterility of the world in the chief elements of true 
 happiness at the coming of Christ is fearful to contem- 
 plate. The masses of mankind were joyless. There was 
 laughter, indeed — the laughter which is as the crackling 
 of thorns under the pot ;J the mournful utterance of a 
 life whose very substance and vitality were being con- 
 sumed in the fires of passion and vice. But of that peace 
 which is as a river — deep, pure, silent, broadening toward 
 the end, where life enters the limitless ocean of eternity — 
 of that there was very little. Christianity gave to mul- 
 titudes that peace, and brought the possibility thereof to 
 
 *Robinson — "Researches,'-' vol. III., page 9. f Ps. lxv. 9-13. 
 X Eccl. vii. 6. 
 
202 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 all the race. It found society a parched and barren 
 waste ; it caused the wilderness to drip, the desert to 
 blossom, and parched and barren hearts it mantled with 
 the richest livery of hope. It gave beauty for ashes, the 
 oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the 
 spirit of heaviness.* 
 
 It has been said, perhaps often thought, that the ex- 
 ample of Christ has impressed upon the human race a 
 character of over-sobriety ; that Christianity has thrown 
 a sombre hue upon men; that the life of ordinary 
 persons cannot be as Christ's was, and if it were so it 
 would blight the very sweetest blossoms of mortal life. 
 What ground is there for such an opinion or asser- 
 tion ? There is none at all that one can mark out 
 with any defmiteness. It means nothing to point us to 
 the lives and teachings of ascetics, hermits, monks, nuns, 
 and sour-visaged and atrabilious representatives of the 
 gloomy features of the religious life in whatever age, 
 or under whatever form of Christianity. Do you tell 
 me that these people express the true Christianity? 
 No ! Their religion is as little like the original as the 
 mimic flowers that caterers carve out of turnips and 
 carrots to garnish a baked fowl or a boiled ham, are like 
 the dear old-fashioned pinks and pansies of our mothers' 
 flower-beds ! 
 
 Such forms of religion are rather a transfusion into 
 the pure health}- blood of Christianity from the dark, 
 superstitious, and doleful forms of pagan faiths. I do 
 not mean to say that there was no brightness in pagan- 
 ism, especially as represented by the gods of ancient 
 Rome and Greece. There was much of that; but on 
 the other hand there was a great deal of gloom; much 
 that sprang from and ministered t<> tenor, fear, and all 
 the baser passions and emotions of human nature; and 
 it is that spirit and temper which has been introduced 
 into Christianity, and thus has made it in the mind- ><( 
 many persons a religion of gloom. But there is no need 
 
 to be deceived by spurious and alien ideas of this sort. 
 
 There is an old tradition that our Lord Jesus Christ 
 I it never to smile. I do not 
 
 * Isa. Ixi. 3. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSIXG. 203 
 
 believe it ! Christ was one who loved little children, who 
 took them in his arms and blessed them. He noticed 
 their plays, for once he drew a metaphor from a merry 
 group that "played wedding" with mimic pipes and 
 dances to their playmates, who perversely would not 
 laugh. Then they " played funeral," making the plain- 
 tive wailings of Oriental burials, but with equal but op- 
 posite perverseness the young audience refused to " la- 
 ment." Did you ever know a man who loved little 
 children to be after the fashion of a wooden image ? 
 Can you think of one habitually fondling these dear buds 
 of humanity and remaining smileless and grim as an 
 automaton, or the waxen figures in a Jarley show? I 
 cannot think it, and I do not believe it of Christ. I pic- 
 ture Jesus of Nazareth as a cheerful, mild, and pleas- 
 ant, although serious and vigorous character; in short, 
 an ideal man in all his manly and lovable qualities. 
 Now, honest laughter and pure mirthfulness belong to 
 manhood. 
 
 Moreover, the Gospels tell us that the holy Angels 
 sang at Jesus' birth, and made the heavens above Bethle- 
 hem's plain ring with their hallelujahs. He Himself told 
 us that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that re- 
 penteth. His picture of himself is that of a Shepherd 
 who has found his lost sheep, and brings it home on his 
 shoulders " rejoicing," and who calls his friends and 
 neighbors together, saying, " Rejoice with me, for I have 
 found my sheep which was lost !" He pictures to us 
 the family of God, the Holy Father Himself as one who 
 welcomes home a prodigal son with all the tokens of 
 gladness and mirthfulness, bidding musicians and dancers 
 to be hired, and a feast prepared, saying, " Let us eat 
 and make merry! for this my son was dead and is alive 
 again; he was lost and is found.* It was meet to make 
 merry and be glad." To the end of his days Jesus bore 
 this cheerful spirit. When His feet were standing on the 
 very brink of the River of Death, when He could reach 
 out His hand and almost touch the cross of his Passion, 
 we read this sentence, " Ye shall be sorrowful, but your 
 sorrow shall be turned intojoy." Again he said, " Ask 
 
 * Luke xv. 24. 
 
204 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl ~RE. 
 
 and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Even in 
 His last intercessory prayer, when He was pouring out 
 His heart in the agony of desire to God ere He went 
 - the brook Kedron to the agony of Gethsemane, 
 He introduced this sentence, " But now I come to Thee; 
 and these things I speak in the world, that the}' may have 
 my joy fulfilled in themselves."* Let this suffice. It is 
 impossible for us to think of such a Teacher as a smile- 
 less, joyless man, or to believe that his Religion can be 
 intended to throw shadows over human lives by darken- 
 ing the light of gladness and silencing the voice of 
 mirth. Oh, no ! " Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem !" 
 — that is the mission of Christianity. " Comfort ye, 
 comfort ye my people!" — that is the voice of the Christ 
 ever crying in the midst of the desert of this world. 
 
 That' the Primitive Church faithfully fulfilled this mis- 
 sion there is no doubt. The Religion of Jesus brought 
 balm to the wounded hearts and weary, burden-worn 
 shoulders of an era when humanity was bitterly op- 
 pressed. The voice of infinite compassion called not in 
 vain, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest!" The masses of the 
 nations — "the common people," were covered by the 
 terms of that Divine Invitation, and "the Common Peo- 
 ple heard Him gladly." Alas! the Church and the 
 Christian State have too often misrepresented their Lord 
 and His Holy Religion, and have been oppressors not re- 
 lievers of humanity. But whatever have been the sins of 
 some, the Many have never misread the Gentle Shep- 
 herd's Heart. Mm in every age have known that Jesus 
 is the Friend of tin Miserable, and have turned to Him 
 for refreshing. He has never failed them, but has come 
 down like rain upon tin- meadow-grass to quicken dying 
 hopes, and cause life's wilderness place to bloSSOm and 
 
 be fragrant with the sweetness of Sharon's R< 
 
 II. Let us turn our thought into a more practical 
 channel and ask, how does Christ confer blessings 
 men? What is the gift that lies at the fountain head kA 
 
 *John w ii. i . 
 
SH01VERS OF BLESSING. 205 
 
 all those streams which enrich human life ? In other 
 words, how may man obtain blessedness ? 
 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ gave an answer to this question 
 from the slopes of a mountain in Palestine, to which his 
 reply has given the name, "The Mount of Beatitudes." 
 The Sermon upon the Mount has challenged the attention 
 of thinking men throughout the last nineteen centuries. 
 It presents an unequaled summary of the great ethical 
 truths upon which the system of Christianity rests. A 
 reading of this sermon shows that the controlling motives 
 of life, according to Christ, should be Holiness and 
 Helpfulness. The sermon deals with human duty, first 
 subjectively, presenting the spiritual graces which men 
 should seek to cultivate, such as inward peace of heart, 
 humility, meekness, purity, righteousness, mercy, firm- 
 ness, and self-denial for the truth. In the second place 
 it treats the subject objectively, that is, in its relations 
 to the world outside of one's own heart. It urges the 
 duty of active benevolence; it bids men become a bless- 
 ing to their fellows, by illumining them with the light 
 of truth — "ye are the light of the world;" by savoring 
 them into healthful life — "ye are the salt of the earth." 
 Thus, the Sermon upon the Mount may be resolved into 
 a presentation, first, of those aims or ends which express 
 an inward condition of soul; and, second, those which 
 express an outward and beneficent relation to men. 
 Such are in a few words the principles which may be 
 taken fairly to represent the manner in which Christianity 
 deals, or should deal, with the problem, How may men 
 become blessed? We may obtain a juster valuation of 
 these principles by exhibiting them in contrast with some 
 of the prominent theories of the present day which deal 
 with the problem of human happiness. 
 
 The apostle of modern theories of evolution is not 
 Dr. Darwin, as most persons, perhaps, suppose, but Her- 
 bert Spencer. Mr. Darwin was a naturalist. Herbert 
 Spencer is a philosopher; and to him, more than any 
 thinker among English-speaking men, is to be charged 
 the perversion of evolutionary theories into an agency 
 destructive of Christianity. Mr. Spencer says,* " No 
 
 * Data of Ethics, page 46. 
 
206 THE GOSPEL IN NA Ti RE. 
 
 school can avoid taking for the ultimate moral aim a de- 
 sirable state of feeling, called by whatever name — grati- 
 fication, enjoyment, happiness." Again, he says, " If we 
 call good the conduct conducive to life, we can only 
 do so with the implication that it is conducive to a bal- 
 ance of pleasures over pains." Says an American writer 
 of the same school,* " morality or goodness is not the 
 prize of life. That prize is happiness, and morality only 
 furnishes the negative conditions." Says Miss Beving- 
 ton, the English positivist: " Every one else knows and 
 affirms, and no positive moralist attempts to deny, that 
 virtuous conduct is only to be achieved at all for the 
 sake of what lies beyond it." — That is to say, fox the 
 sake of the happiness which it produces. 
 
 Again, let us contrast the great aims of life announced 
 by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount with the doc- 
 trines of Nihilism, which are to-day in whole or in part 
 receiving the assent of multitudes of our fellow-men. 
 The late Michael Bakunin, the father of Nihilism, said : 
 " Brethren, I come to announce unto you a new gospel, 
 which must penetrate to the very ends of the earth. 
 This gospel admits of no half measures and hesitations. 
 The Lie must be stamped out and give way to the truth." 
 I almost hesitate to continue the quotation, but when 
 Satan comes in among the sons of God it is well for us 
 at times to hear what he has to say, that we may know- 
 not only how to answer, but to avoid him. "The first 
 lie," says Bakunin, "is God. The second lie is right 
 
 * * might, my friends, forms the sole ground- 
 work of society, and when you have freed your minds 
 from the fear of a God. and from that childish respect 
 for the fiction of right, then all the remaining chains 
 which bind you, and which are called science, civiliza- 
 tion, property, marriage, morality, and justice, will snap 
 asunder like threads. Let your own happiness be your 
 only law. But in order to get this law recognized, and 
 to bring about the proper relations which should exist 
 between the majority and minority of mankind, you 
 must destroy everything which exists in the shape of 
 State or social organization — our first work must be the 
 
 * Quoted in the Nineteenth Century Review by Mr. Mullock. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 
 
 207 
 
 destruction, the annihilation, of everything as it now 
 exists * * * Take heed that no ark be allowed to 
 rescue any atom of this world which we now consecrate 
 to destruction — now we Nihilists say, no law, no reli- 
 gion— Nihil !" * Nothing ! 
 
 Surely, in view of these contrasts and comparisons, 
 which show us unmistakably the superiority of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ as a moral teacher, we will not be disposed 
 to turn away from Him to any other, If, then, we put 
 the question, How shall man be blessed ? we can do no 
 better than accept what Christ has taught, namely, that 
 man shall be blessed, first, by cultivating a holy life, sec- 
 ond, by devoting his life to the blessing of others. 
 
 1. Consider for a moment the first of these paths to 
 blessedness, securing a holy life. " Blessed are the pure 
 in heart." There is an old saying, " Virtue is its own re- 
 ward." I have seen it more than once held up to rid- 
 icule, and yet it is profoundly true. Virtue, which is 
 but another name for holiness, has to be pursued for its 
 own sake, not for the sake of the happiness which may 
 result. Of course, one is glad to receive whatever hap- 
 piness may ensue, but virtue should be practiced because 
 it is right. This is a great fortification against tempta- 
 tion. Is one assailed by popular clamor that would 
 urge him into evil courses, that would force him upon a 
 path contrary to conscience and righteousness, by threats 
 that if he do not hearken to the voice of the mob his 
 social or political prospects shall be blighted, his happi- 
 ness threatened? Surely it is an anchorage to a soul 
 blown upon by such a tempest, to be able and willing to 
 say, as Henry Clay once said so nobly, " I had rather 
 be right than President." We might have learned such 
 a lesson even from a pagan philosopher. Was it not 
 Cicero who said : " Socrates is my friend, Plato is my 
 friend, but more than either my friend is Truth?"! 
 Surely it does give strength to one whose faith and vir- 
 tue are assailed by inducements to unrighteous dealings, 
 held out through prospects of large gains in business, to 
 
 * Quoted from Mr. Cunliffe Owen's paper on Nihilism in the 
 Nineteenth Century Review, January, 1880. f Socrates amicus 
 Plato amicus, sed magis arnica Veritas. 
 
208 THE GOSPEL IX NA TL 'A'L\ 
 
 be convinced that purity is better than prosperity, that 
 unsullied manhood is better than happiness ; that it 
 shall profit a man nothing if he gain the whole world 
 and lose his own soul. Surely it does fortify the tempted 
 soul to be able to appeal from the false and unfriendly 
 judgments of men to the judgments of Him whose right- 
 eousness never faileth ; to turn aside from the perishing 
 crowns of this world to that great reward, that unfading 
 crown, which is in reserve for those who walk in gar- 
 ments of white, keeping them unspotted from the world. 
 In short, blessedness, according to the creed of Christ, 
 consists primarily in the attainment of a pure heart; it is 
 a question of what am I ? not of what have I ? 
 
 2. The second source of blessedness which Christ 
 holds out is beneficence, the act of blessing others. 
 
 " Ye are the salt of the earth," I le said to His disciples. 
 Your life must consist in active seasoning of all untrue, 
 unkind, and corrupt aims, ideas, and acts ; in continually 
 saving those who without your influence would surely 
 perish. " Ye arc the light of the world," he said. Your 
 duty is to stand as a lamp in the midst of darkness, illu- 
 minating the passer-by and shedding radiance upon the 
 homes within the circuit of your shining. In such ac- 
 tions you shall find true happiness. If ye know these 
 things," said the Master, "happy are ye if ye do them." 
 
 Christians sometimes fail of blessedness because they 
 do not see its close relation to being a blessing. 
 
 A parishioner once sought advice of Dr. Alexander. 
 lie v, as under a cloud, and could find no comfort in the 
 discharge of religious duty. The Doctor said to him : 
 "Do you pray?" "Yes, I spend whole nights in 
 prayer." " 1 low do you pray ?" "I pray," was the an- 
 swer " that the Lord would lift the light of his counte- 
 nance upon me. and grant me peace." "Go," said Dr. 
 Alexander, " and pray God to glorify His name, and to 
 convert sinners to Himself." The prescription met the 
 ca^e. The man found blessedness in bestowing it. 
 
 Canon Liddon has remarked in one of his sermons that 
 love is greater than knowledge, and that he who can 
 make love grow among men deserves a higher bencdic- 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING 209 
 
 tion than he who only brings to them intellectual en- 
 lightenment. Speaking to an academical audience in 
 England, he said, " As compared with knowledge, love 
 is a stronger thing, and its worth more practical as an 
 abstract existence. To enwrap other men, perhaps mul- 
 titudes, in the flame of a passionate enthusiasm for pri- 
 vate or public virtue is better than to analyze in the 
 solitude of a study rival systems of ethical and political 
 truths." This is a true Christian philosophy, yet there 
 is no need to separate knowledge and love, for Christ has 
 both to give. Christ enkindles and bestows at once the 
 love of truth and the love of man. This is his great gift, 
 his benediction to the world. This, as He Himself de- 
 clared to the Roman knight, Pilate, in the judgment hall, 
 is his true royal mission, given Him by his Father, a real 
 token of His earthly kingship. " To this end was I born. 
 For this end came I into the world that I might bear 
 witness to the truth." 
 
 Go forth, then, Christian people, in obedience to the 
 spirit and word of Jesus, to bless a miserable race with 
 all the spiritual gifts of God, and with the hope of im- 
 mortality. Mankind needs this. You need it. You have 
 found Christianity a source of moral strength in con- 
 flict with sin and necessities. Its support has nurtured 
 you, inspired you to endurance and action. It has 
 blessed your life, helped you to your highest successes, 
 rescued you from most threatening perils. Let the 
 blessing be passed over to others in the name of Him 
 who is the giver of every perfect gift. To-day the 
 Church and world understand better, perhaps, than ever, 
 that Jesus Christ came among men as a Friend. By that 
 Holy Name which you bear I urge you to be true to the 
 mission of Christianity, and give all the forces of your 
 life to broaden -the zone of human happiness, and limit 
 and contract to its very minimum the belt of human 
 misery and sin. 
 
 Salvation is free ! Yes, it is, thank God ! Water is free. 
 How it bubbles from the mountain spring, and laughs 
 down the mountain sides, making musical notes as it rip- 
 ples over rocks, runs under ferns, and finds its way to 
 the flowery meadow. There is not a bird twittering from 
 
2 1 THE COS/ EL IN X. 1 Tl A' E. 
 
 the boughs that overhang it, not a squirrel barking on 
 the branches above it, not a beast in all those tangled 
 woods, nor creeping thing, that may not come and 
 quench its thirst at the mountain brook. There is not a 
 flower, shrub, or reed along the banks, or blue-tinted 
 flag, or waving tuft of grass with banner of green leaf 
 " hanging hall-mast high," that may not send down its 
 rootlets, or bend down its head, and freely drink. The 
 stream sweeps onward to the river, and the river courses 
 by yon teeming city. There is not a child or woman or 
 man who may not go down to its limpid currents to 
 drink, or bathe, or take the waters freely, even to satiety, 
 for domestic and personal use. Water is free ! What 
 under heaven is freer, unless it be the air? 
 
 Stop a moment ! Go to the gate of our beautiful Park ; 
 enter the Fairmount water-works, and look at the splen- 
 did machines whose mighty whir and thug are forcing 
 the water — free water — of the Schuylkill through scores 
 of miles of mains and pipes into all the factories, shops, 
 churches, hospitals, and homes of Philadelphia. Water 
 is free! But — when you pay your yearly water-tax you 
 observe that it takes a good deal of money to deliver 
 free water to your doors ! 
 
 We do well to speak of the freedom of salvation, the 
 freedom of the blessed offers of Christ through the 
 Church, but forget not that the machinery by which the 
 Water of Life is to be borne to the thirsty and impure is 
 not free, but, on the contrary, is very costly. Therefore 
 it is becoming that those who are the children of God 
 should yield of their substance liberally, that " free sal- 
 vation" may be brought to those who most arc in need 
 of it God has given you power; social power, intel- 
 lectual power, physical vigor, the mighty force of sym- 
 pathy — heart power; yes, "It is He that giveth thee 
 power to get wealth." * Use all these Divine gifts as 
 Stewards of God in Christ, remembering well and always 
 that here, day by day, in this life as well as in the 1 >.iy 
 of Final Judgment, you must " Give an account of thy 
 stewardship." 
 
 There is also a lesson here for those who have never 
 
 * Dcut. \iii. iS. 
 
SHO WERS OF BLESSING. 2 1 1 
 
 yet allied their lives in faith with the Son of God. 
 Surely the knowledge of the Divine Goodness should 
 lead you to repentance. Ought not the blessings of 
 Christ to stir you up to grateful action? God certainly 
 expects that result. In one striking passage in Isaiah, 
 in which the Lord describes His purposed blessings 
 under the metaphor of showers of rain, He declares 
 that the result shall be a consecration of men to Him, a 
 solemn devoting of their lives to His service, a holy joy 
 and pride in the fellowship and name of His spiritual 
 children. 
 
 3 I will pour water on him that is thirsty, 
 And floods upon the dry ground ; 
 
 I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, 
 And my blessing upon thine offspring. 
 
 4 And they shall spring up among the grass 
 As willows by the water courses. 
 
 5 And one shall say, ' ' I am the Lord's !" 
 Another shall call by the name of Jacob, 
 Another subsGribe with his hand, "To the Lord!" 
 And surname himself by the Name of Israel.* 
 
 Has not your Heavenly Father a right to expect like 
 issues from his goodness toward you ? Does He not ex- 
 pect such? Will you disappoint such loving and reason- 
 able desires? He is not far from any one of you, and 
 He stands offering you all the blessedness of a purified 
 life, a pardoned soul, and Paradise at last. Will you ac- 
 cept his offer? Will you believe, and be safe and happy 
 eternally? How can you darken your soul against the 
 light and vision of this merciful Saviour and His offered 
 blessing? 
 
 One summer evening, while stopping in a beautiful 
 suburban home not far from our city, I was told this 
 story by one who had lately been an inmate of the house. 
 A maiden some sixteen years of age had all her life been 
 the unconscious victim of a blemish in her eyes that 
 hindered perfect vision. A surgical operation was finally 
 agreed upon, and successfully made. The girl was kept 
 within the house until her eyes gathered full strength, 
 and was permitted gradually and sparingly to go out- 
 
 * Isaiah xliv. 3-5. 
 
2 I 2 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl -RE. 
 
 doors. It so happened that some time elapsed after 
 her recovery before she went into the open air after 
 nightfall. One evening she rushed into the parlor, with 
 face aglow with excitement. The joy of a great dis- 
 covery illumined every feature. "Oh, come !" she ex- 
 claimed, " come out quickly to the lawn, and see what 
 beautiful things have appeared in the sky ! " 
 
 Her friends hastily followed her out of doors, won- 
 dering what might have occurred. They saw nothing ! 
 " What do you mean ? " they asked the maiden. 
 
 " Look ! " she said, pointing eagerly heavenward, " don't 
 you see those bright things up there ? They are there 
 — and there — sparkling all over the sky ! " 
 
 "My dear child," one who loved her. said softly, 
 " those are the stars ! " 
 
 Yes, the stars, which she had never seen before ! 
 Friends could hardly take in the fact that for all the 
 years of her life the dear child had been moving thr 
 God's world with a limited vision, seeing only what lay 
 close around her, utterly oblivious that there were stars, 
 hosts of stars, all over the sky, and all so very beautiful. 
 How strange it seemed ! 
 
 I think of something far more strange — ay, and piti- 
 ful! Oh, souls of men, heaven is full of shining lights 
 that God has hung out to charm the pathway to His i 
 nal home, to lure you upward, to show you how far- 
 eternity exceeds time in beaut}-, how far heaven rises 
 beyond earth in value and glory. Yet, O my friends, 
 your eyes are still withholden! You do not sec, you do 
 not comprehend, you will not look, and suffer your soul 
 to be filled with the glory of heaven .md ( \ >d. Oh, for the 
 hand of Him who opened the eyes of the blind when lie 
 walked this world, to touch your soul and give you sight 
 of these realities! He is here! — verily here, near you, 
 close beside you, willing to till your life with the bless- 
 race, blessings which everywhere overhang 
 you and only await your acceptance. Kneel before 
 I lim ! Pray 1 lim to anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that 
 you may see! Then lo! the heavens and the earth, the 
 :it and the future, will break forth before you, 
 radiant with the quenchless stars oi' immortal hope 
 
LECTURE XII. 
 
 The Bow in the Cloud. 
 
 ''''And the bozo shall be in the cloud ; and I will look 
 upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant 
 between God and every living creature of all flesh that 
 is upon the earthy — GENESIS ix. 16. 
 
THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 
 
 It sometimes happens during a morning or afternoon 
 shower that the sun bursts forth from behind a cloud 
 while drops of rain are yet falling through the air. If, 
 at that moment, the observer stands with his back to 
 the sun he will see upon the opposite heavens, beneath 
 the passing rain-cloud, the beautiful phenomenon known 
 as the rainbow. The physical origin of this lovely 
 creature of Nature was unknown to the ancients, but 
 has been explained in modern times by students of the 
 laws of optics. 
 
 In order to understand this explanation, several facts 
 must be taken for granted. First, sunlight is a mixture 
 composed of seven heterogeneous kinds of light known 
 as the primary colors — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, 
 indigo, and violet. These indeed may be reduced to 
 three, which according to Professor James Clark Max- 
 well are vermilion, ultramarine, and emerald green.* 
 
 Second, certain objects known as prisms have the 
 power of decomposing sunlight into these primary 
 colors; and when thus separated in their order they are 
 commonly called the solar spectrum. 
 
 Third, the fact that the spectrum appears as we see it, 
 the colors arranged one above another in the order named, 
 is due to their different degrees of refrangibility or ca- 
 pacity to be broken from a direct line when passing 
 through the prism. The ray that is least broken, red, 
 will be_ outermost, and so on in order until that which is 
 most deflected, violet, will be at the other extreme of 
 the spectrum. 
 
 Now a rainbow is a circular spectrum. What are the 
 prisms which have produced it, and how is it produced? 
 The spherical drops of water falling out of the rain- 
 
 *See Contributions to Science,. page 473, in Life of James Clark 
 Maxwell, with diagram. 
 
 (215) 
 
2 1 6 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tt RE. 
 
 cloud become in fact prisms, within which the rays <■! 
 light arc separated into their primary colors. A ray 
 falls upon the outer surface of the drop, is refracted or 
 broken from the direct line as it passes through, is then 
 reflected from the opposite inner surface back to the 
 convexity nearest the observer, and passing out of the 
 drop is once more refracted and so falls upon the ob- 
 server's eye as a single color of the spectrum. The eye 
 is so placed as to receive but one of the colors from any 
 one drop, but from the other falling drops it receives the 
 remaining colors. 
 
 Let us divide these innumerable drops into seven vast 
 arm}- corps. Each corps will include the drops which 
 produce one of the seven primary colors, and the uni- 
 form of that corps shall be red, green, blue or other 
 color according to its order. You must see that all the 
 individuals of this army corps will be mustered together 
 in one great line of parade stretching around the sky. 
 For since every ray of any one color, red, for example, 
 when passing through its raindrop prism is broken 
 from the direct line at the same angle of refraction, all 
 rays must occupy the same relative position to 
 the horizon, and so the myriad ^\ red points joined one 
 to another will appear as an extended line before the ob- 
 server. Next to this line of red will stretch the I 
 line of that army corps which wears the orange uniform; 
 and so on through ail the seven corps oi colors, until at 
 last we shall see the whole united host mustered rank on 
 rank in beautiful and orderly dress parade over the black 
 
 round of the receding cloud. 
 
 It would be impossible, perhaps, in a popular discourse 
 
 •his, to explain the mathematical principles upon 
 which the \arioii lisposed :in a 
 
 circular spectrum. It will be enough to state that the 
 
 trance of parallel rays of homogeneous light thus 
 reflected ami refracted, would naturally be that of a 
 bright circle whose centre is opposite to the soui 
 
 . ami whose radius is, for raindrops, about .}_• 
 
 nd, the different kinds of homogeneous light which 
 
 ♦Art. "Light," Encyclopaedia Britannica ; Ed. ixth. 
 
7///; B ' A ■ ' THE CL 1 r D. 2 i 7 
 
 make up sunligh - -oduce a circular 
 
 ire on the 
 outside. Third, an infill .-j ar- 
 
 rant oe anot: 1 centre 
 
 ch individual b at diameti 
 
 oint of the sun's disk which prod . Thus 
 
 the immense number of falling raind- 
 immense number of passing sun-rays, pr< a int- 
 
 er of coh 1 into 
 
 band or ribbon of c - -.hing around 
 
 As the prim- 
 
 . jlar bands arrang another 11 
 
 natural order of 
 
 tnetunes two dist thin 
 
 • '.her. The inner o: 
 and. -of the two. The prima- 
 
 n of the . hich 
 
 .hing 
 
 ch is the fainter of the 
 
 on the inner portion of the 
 
 raindrop and suffering two ; 
 
 tions. In the prima- I the f the 
 
 -urn. In the 
 ondai 
 
 '. 
 is produced by This is 
 
 - that only faint tr 
 of cc ear. This nv .n, for instance, when 
 
 nines on raindrops in the *.a of the 
 
 rough c talsintheh 
 
 strata. ] from the fac-. 5 the 
 
 light is S] -a much la- 
 
 is then much br 
 than usual, and nearly white. The 
 rain; » modifications in 1 
 
 formed nlight 1 . d lunar rain'-. 
 
 and are n -;n. 
 
 The lunar rainbow, which is a -,he- 
 
 non, differs from the urce 
 
 hich it is ] and, 
 
 as in all case-. .tion of the c 
 
THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 is very difficult. In fact, except under the most favora- 
 ble circumstances, the lunar rainbow rarely shows colors 
 at all, giving a pale ghostly gleam of apparently white 
 or yellow light, but with full moon and other favorable 
 circumstances it is easy to assure oneself that the colors 
 are really present. 
 
 In Bible narrative the Bow in the cloud is intro- 
 duced to us as the sign of God's covenant to preserve 
 the earth from the destruction of another universal del- 
 uge. The circumstances of its introduction into the 
 course of sacred history are briefly these. The waters 
 had wrought their work of judgment upon the antedilu- 
 vian world. Mankind had become so corrupt that the 
 hope of a future of purity and noble development was 
 nearly extinguished. Outside the pale of one family the 
 race seemed hopelessly insalvable. By an act of Divine 
 
 :y the element of fatal disease was separated 
 the element of life and cast away upon the waters of the 
 flood. Noah and his family were preserved in an ark 
 of gopher wood, which outrode the deluge and was 
 finally lodged upon Mount. Ararat. The first act of the 
 patriarch after his deliverance was one of worship. He 
 chose victims from the clean beasts in the ark, and 
 offered amid the debris of the drowned world a sacrifice 
 of thanksgiving and adoration to the Eternal God who 
 had spared him and his. This act of piety was m 
 ceptable to God, and thereupon he made a covenant 
 with Noah not only for himself and his posterity but 
 for all the animals associated with him. In this cove- 
 nant he guaranteed the permanence of the order of 
 ture; "Seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer 
 and winter, day and night shall not c 
 
 N ah, This is the token of the 
 ant which I make between me and you and even- 
 creature that is with you for perpetual generations. 
 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a I 
 of a covenant between .Me and the earth. "t 
 
 Thus at the very time when man most needed assur- 
 ance it was vouchsafed to him. All his ideas of th 
 bility of Nature had been swept away, or at least greatly 
 
 ren. ix. 12. 
 
THE BOW IX THE CLOUD. 219 
 
 shaken by the terrible event which had just occurred. 
 How could he with any heart enter upon the work of 
 rebuilding destroyed homes, restoring the desolate earth ? 
 What confidence could he have that in the future his life 
 and works should be preserved from the overwhelming 
 judgment that had reduced mankind to a single house- 
 hold ? That assurance came in the promise which Je- 
 hovah made to Noah ; and the token of that promise, 
 in accordance with the unvarying method of divine deal- 
 ing with man, was so chosen as to preserve the covenant 
 in perpetual remembrance. In this case the covenant 
 sign was most beautiful and significant. 
 
 It has been widely supposed that the rainbow was 
 created after the deluge for this purpose. Its appear- 
 ance has therefore been regarded as a miracle. There 
 seems to be no ground for this opinion. There is cer- 
 tainly nothing in the text that compels such a view. In- 
 deed, the language may indicate the contrary, — " I do 
 set my bow in the cloud." " My " bow, is language that 
 leaves in our mind the impression of a previous exist- 
 ence and possession, not a new creation. " I do set," 
 (or as it properly reads, I have set), is language which 
 may indeed favor the popular understanding, provided 
 we give to the word " set " one of its ordinary meanings. 
 But in the Hebrew the word translated " set " does not 
 necessarily signify made or placed for the first time. It 
 properly means to appoint, to set apart. This sense sur- 
 vives in the English word set by which the Hebrew is 
 translated. We speak of a set time, meaning an appointed 
 time. We speak of one's setting apart an object for a 
 special purpose, meaning simply that we appoint or con- 
 secrate an object already existing to a new end or sacred 
 purpose. I have often heard the expression "set the 
 day," used as equivalent to " name " or " fix the day," 
 especially in reference to weddings. We mav thus be- 
 lieve that Almighty God called the attention of Xoah to 
 that which he had often seen before: saying, in effect, I 
 have set apart this my bow in the cloud to be hence- 
 forth a token to you of the covenant which I have made. 
 
 Of course it is obvious that if rain had existed, as un- 
 doubtedly it already existed before the time of Noah, 
 
220 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 there must also have been a rainbow. The theory that 
 up to that period the cradle and home of the human race 
 was watered by mist alone as was the original Paradise, 
 I think untenable. There never could have been a time 
 when falling raindrops coincident with the shining o\ 
 the sun would not have produced the bended bow upon 
 the clouded heavens. The interpretation of the word 
 " set " as above given is that which is now all but uni- 
 dly received; and it may be said that it has not 
 been forced upon exege'tical science as some interpreta- 
 tions have been by the progress of physical science, 
 since it was well known and commonly received among 
 ancient Jewish Rabbis, among them the distinguished 
 ami learned exegete, Maimonides. 
 
 I. The first thought that meets us as we look at this 
 Bow of God in the Cloud is that Nature is a Symbol of 
 the Divine. 
 
 i. This truth is liable to serious abuse. There are 
 men who make a religion of the natural ; men who exalt 
 nature above the throne of God ; men who use the love 
 and knowledge o\ the natural as a lever to lift out from 
 their own thoughts and those of their fellows the old 
 faith in the eternal verities of Heaven. With others 
 "communion with Nature" (as the phrase goes) i- 
 sidered a sufficient substitute for the communion <^i' the 
 saints. It a Sabbath day, bright with the glory of 
 spring, invites to fields ami woods, such men will satisfy 
 their consciences for the neglect of public and private 
 worship of God and the religious duties of the Holy 
 
 by saying: I can worship by watching tin i 
 
 - rolling upon the beach ; by listening to the voices 
 
 of bird., the music of insects, and the rustle <<\ winds 
 
 amon 3 : by walking through green fiel 
 
 climbing mountain slopes ami filling my heart with the 
 
 freshness ami beauty oi the landscape. 
 This reasoning is plausible, but it is false. The altar 
 
 and sacrifice of Noah preceded the How in the cloud; 
 they were the cause, not the consequence of that cove- 
 nant of which the rainbow was the external pi 
 
THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 221 
 
 This is still the lawful order : first, the spiritual service 
 of sanctuary worship, then the confirmation of physical 
 works ; first, the voice of God at the altar, then the 
 echo thereof in material nature; first, God's self, then 
 His symbol. I am firmly persuaded that the love of na- 
 ture can never be truly helpful if it shall banish from 
 the soul the nobler devotion to God. Men must be 
 taught to love Nature in subordination to Him who is 
 the Lord of all. They are to know that while religion 
 is natural, the natural is not religion ; that religion is 
 beautiful, but the beautiful is not necessarily religion. 
 Nothing can take the place of religion in the human 
 soul. It is an inexorable law of men's highest develop- 
 ment, " Seek first the Kingdom of God and His right- 
 eousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." 
 No man can safely reverse that order. 
 
 2. This is our warning against the abuse of the thought 
 that Nature is a symbol of the. Divine. We must think 
 also of how to utilize the thought. The rainbow in the 
 cloud is beautiful. No heart can fail to be touched by 
 the charm of its external loveliness. But that beauty is 
 greatly enhanced when one sees behind it the living 
 thought of Him who stretched it beneath the cloud, and 
 who made it a token forever of his merciful purpose 
 towards men. This presents very forcibly to our minds 
 what possibilities of spiritual helpfulness may lie within all 
 natural phenomena. We are not to think that all mate- 
 rial creatures rank equally with the rainbow in symboliz- 
 ing divine truth. God has himself set for us a meaning 
 within the Bow, and that fact makes it pre-eminent as a 
 symbol. But there is nothing which God has made that 
 does not express objectively some thought of His. The 
 wealth of divine benevolence, power, taste, wisdom, and 
 skill as these lie locked up within the treasuries of nat- 
 ural worlds, is being uncovered day by day. It is our 
 privilege and duty to possess this wealth and reveal it to 
 others. But we must always insist for ourselves as well 
 as our fellows that knowledge and enjoyment of the 
 creature should never take the place of knowledge and 
 enjoyment of the Creator. God is greater than His 
 
222 THE GOSPEL TN NATURE. 
 
 works. To know God's handiwork is indeed the enlarge- 
 ment of one's personal life. But to know God Himself 
 is " life eternal." * 
 
 These sentiments have animated some of the noblest 
 spirits among the captains who have led the hosts of 
 modern science into paths of natural discover}'. They 
 have felt that "the secrets of the Lord are with them 
 that fear Him." f Professor Hentz, the father of Ameri- 
 can Araneology, was a man of singularly devout spirit. 
 He never entered his study-door without stopping a mo- 
 ment in silent prayer beneath a picture of the All-seeing 
 Eye which he himself had made. Indeed, the constant 
 pressure of his forehead against the door while in the 
 act of silent devotion left an indelible mark.J It was 
 thus that he prepared himself to question the mysterious 
 oracle of Nature whose utterance seemed to him to voice 
 th Word of God. 
 
 The late Professor A. A. Hodge has related this in- 
 cident: It was my inestimable privilege as a boy to be 
 a student of that great Christian philosopher, Pro! 
 Joseph Henry. I was his assistant in the laboratory 
 when he made a series of experiments which establish- 
 ed the possibility of the electric telegraph. He was a 
 very reverent man. I shall never forget how when hi 
 had completed his arrangements, and the moment had 
 arrived when he would put nature to her crucial test, Ik 
 bowed his uncovered head and said, " I have asked God 
 a question; let us await his answer."§ 
 
 1 remember a striking sentence in the eulogy upon 
 Professor Henry which I heard pronounced by Profes- 
 sor Mayer at the Boston meeting of the American Asso- 
 ciation for the Advancement of Science. The speaker 
 was drawing a parallel between Joseph Henry and 
 Michael Faraday, and said: "They both loved science 
 more than money, and their Creator more than either."!! 
 
 •John xvii. 3. fPs. xxv. 11. t Nicholas Marcellus II 
 Mi> "The Spiders <>t the United States," page 11, Pi 
 
 iphical Notes by Edward Burcbss. '.'lire anecdote was 
 toldin Dr. Hodge's " Popular Lectures on Theological ["hemes" 
 1 1887) : but I do not find it in the printed lectures. || I quote from 
 memory. 
 
THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 223 
 
 In view of such facts, what contradiction can there 
 ever be between true science and exegetical theology ? 
 Science is but the exegesis of God's revelation in na- 
 ture; the minute unfolding and classifying of his works; 
 even as Theology is the interpretation and systematiz- 
 ing of the truths of his Word. One should protest in 
 behalf both of Revealed and Natural Theology against 
 any effort of godless savans on one extreme, and short- 
 sighted divines on the other, to put the Bible and 
 science in hostility. They are one, and of One. What 
 God hath joined let no man put asunder ! 
 
 I welcome the man of science with his carefully 
 gleaned facts into the domain of theology. Whether 
 his field has been the highest of God's works, man him- 
 self, or the very lowest, the insignificant radiates and 
 molluscs, they all throw light upon the First Great 
 Cause, the Infinite Creative Mind — the God whom we 
 adore. Not the smallest fact is without its value in our 
 common search after God ; even the driest details of 
 science have their counterparts in the "jot" and the 
 " tittle " of the Bible student, the intricacies of Hebrew 
 points and roots, of Greek particles and accents. If at 
 times our supposed facts seem to clash, it is no more 
 than is seen among theologians and scientists as separ- 
 ate classes whose facts and deductions we know often 
 enough have joined issue, science with science and theo- 
 logy with theology. Moreover, on both sides supposed 
 facts have often proved to be the merest fancies, and 
 certain deductions the wildest theories. 
 
 It would be an iniquity for which there could be no 
 reparation, I had almost said no forgiveness, were the 
 Christians of this generation to allow a divorce between 
 natural science and revealed religion ; to hand over the 
 realm of nature to the undevout man of science, and 
 silence thus the voice that calls Christ's own disciples 
 from " Nature up to Nature's God," and through Na- 
 ture's God to Nature. The study of nature especially 
 belongs to the Christian ; a renewed heart is a necessary 
 qualification to the highest attainments in that field ; for 
 it brings the mind of the inquirer into sympathy with 
 the mind of the great Designer; the pupil with the 
 
224 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Author of all ; the apprentice with the Master Archi- 
 tect and Builder of the material universe. 
 
 To the undevout nature is simply a workshop; to 
 the Christian it is a voice ; to the scientist who strives, 
 waits, plods, and pries, she grudgingly yields up rich 
 knowledge of her wonderful construction and powers. 
 To the saint she opens at once the inner chamber of 
 her most hallowed mysteries and speaks of her Creator 
 God. But when the saint is also a man of science there 
 are ten thousand tongues, mute to others, with which 
 she whispers the Goodness and Greatness of the Al- 
 mighty. May God speed the day when Faith shall lend 
 new zeal to Science ; and Science shall give new strength 
 to Faith! Then shall be established the true relation 
 between the science of God's created things, and the 
 science of God himself. Then shall every natural fact 
 in God's worlds, like the Bow in the cloud, become for 
 man a sacrament, a material sign of a spiritual truth, a 
 token tangible, audible, visible of the Divine Thought 
 that lies therein or under it. 
 
 II. Another thought which the Bow in the Cloud 
 brings to us is that God has covered with the protection 
 of his covenant the inferior creatures of the earth. 
 
 The rainbow is not only a sign of God's purpose to 
 protect men from universal destruction by a deluge, but. 
 guarantees like protection to the fowl of heaven and the 
 beasts of the field. It is not to be supposed that the 
 knowledge of this fact is 'possessed by the brute crea- 
 tures, but they have the benefit of the fact through the 
 knowledge which man possesses. It is needful that man 
 should emphasize to his own thought the truth which 
 Heaven has here revealed. 
 
 We may not admit the community of man and the 
 lower orders, as asserted by advocates of the philosophic 
 tii.-. >ry of evolution, and may not therefore hold that God's 
 covenant covers man and beast on the ground that they 
 are of common origin. Vet certainly there is a com- 
 munity of interest and destiny which is manifest in many 
 ways. The domestic cattle ami fowl, for example, arc 
 close sharers with man in the incidents and accidents oi 
 
THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 225 
 
 life. The earliest stages of human development in civil- 
 ization are marked by the establishment of flocks and 
 herds.* The faithful, patient, and laborious brute friends 
 and servants of man have largely contributed to his suc- 
 cesses and advancement in all ages and races. Cold 
 and heat, hunger and thirst they share in common with 
 their masters ; they suffer when he suffers ; their content 
 is enlarged as his happiness increases. 
 
 This last at least should be the rule. " The merciful 
 man is merciful to his beast." He recognizes the right 
 of the dumb creature also to the possession of earth. 
 What ! Has the brute rights ? Yes ! The Magna Charta 
 of animal rights is older than any mere human char- 
 ter, for it is written in the flaming colors of the Bow of 
 God's Covenant upon the cloud of God's heaven, by the 
 hand of God himself. The sanctions of religion unite 
 with human interests and the claims of kindliness to vin- 
 dicate the right of God's dumb creatures to fair and 
 merciful treatment by men. We may rule them, but not 
 tyrannize over them. We may use them, but not misuse 
 them. We may train them for our service, but not 
 abuse them in our service or for our sport. We may 
 even exercise the last and highest prerogative of sov- 
 ereignty and slay them, but must spare them needless 
 suffering. 
 
 It is somewhat difficult to find a word for the feeling 
 which is here described. "Humanity" expresses kind 
 treatment to our fellow-men. One can scarcely venture 
 to apply the word to kind treatment of beasts; yet I do 
 not think it an incongruity that some American organiza- 
 tions for protecting animals from cruelty are known as 
 " Humane" Societies. Certainly no man of humanity can 
 be unkind to a brute. No man who is persistently cruel to 
 the lower orders will rise to the height of kindliness to- 
 wards his fellow-men. Nay, no man who abuses animals 
 can well mount to a high order of manhood in any re- 
 spect. Thus closely, at least, we are bound together in 
 community of nature, interest, and destiny. We may 
 allow the Holy Scriptures to suggest the word which we 
 seek. It is written, "A righteous man regardeth the 
 
 * Gen. iv. 20. 
 
226 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 life of his beast."* Kindly regard for the beast, then, 
 if not humanity, is righteousness. Surely it is an act of 
 righeousness to cover with the hand of human authority 
 and protection those helpless creatures whom God has 
 committed to us for our proper use, but whom He 
 has not withdrawn from beneath his own providential 
 care. 
 
 Yes, providential care! That covenant of mercy to- 
 wards beasts which God established with Noah, and of 
 which the Bow in the Cloud was the sign, was reaffirmed 
 by the Author of the Christian religion. Said the Lord 
 Jesus Christ : "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? 
 and one of them shall not fall on the ground without 
 your Father." t I like the definition of God's providence 
 which is familiar to a multitude of children in Great 
 Britain and America, and which the children of the Pil- 
 grim and Puritan fathers knew well — " God's works of 
 providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful pre- 
 serving and governing all His creatures and all their ac- 
 tions.";*; Think of it ! from an Archangel to an ant; 
 from the order of a Lincoln that elevates to freemen four 
 millions of slaves, to the first frail spinning work that 
 lifts the baby spiderling into the air — the Divine provi- 
 dence extends with wise and loving interest and control. 
 Verily, such Christian teaching should compel from its 
 disciples a cordial sympathy with God's dumb creatures, 
 and all who would interpose between them and human 
 cruelty the spirit of that Protecting Covenant which bent 
 above them in the days of Noah. I wonder that some 
 one has not suggested to such societies that among the 
 symbols of their seals and heraldic devices the rainbow 
 might be introduced as a most fitting and beautiful em- 
 blem. 
 
 One can scarcely touch this subject without alluding 
 to vivisection. The term is applied to a form of experi- 
 menting by physiologists and naturalists which requires 
 the cutting and mutilating of living animals. The al- 
 leged purpose of such experimenting is, for the m<>st 
 part, the protection of human life. The effects of medi- 
 
 iv. xii. ro. f Matt. x. 29. \ Westminster Shorter Cate- 
 chism. Question 11. 
 
THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 227 
 
 cines upon the animal system, the successful modes of 
 treating certain diseases or accidents, these and such like 
 problems men have attempted to solve in the laboratory 
 by experimenting upon domestic animals. 
 
 Now, I think it must be granted that the custom can- 
 not be wholly condemned. The higher interests of man, 
 the protection of human life, the amelioration of human 
 misery, the solution of problems that may bring life, 
 health, and happiness to vast numbers of the human 
 species — surely these are ends of such value as to 
 justify the sacrifice of dogs, rabbits, and cats. Just in 
 so far as humanity demands the sacrifice it seems to 
 me that it may be made. But the sacrificial knife should 
 never be drawn save by a consecrated hand upon a vic- 
 tim sacredly devoted. In other words, he who is en- 
 gaged in vivisection should be careful to bring to it the 
 purest motives and the most merciful methods. It can- 
 not be doubted that there has been much cruelty, most 
 unjustifiable cruelty, wrought upon helpless brutes in the 
 name of medical and natural science; experiments which 
 brought torment to living creatures have been made 
 time and again, not to verify facts, for these have al- 
 ready been sufficiently established and fortified, but 
 simply to gratify the curiosity of students. The work 
 of vivisection has often fallen into heedless hands. 
 Young men, and men of irresponsible positions, have 
 taken it up without due consideration of the rights of 
 dumb creatures, whom they torture in their tyro-efforts 
 to imitate the experiments of men of character and ge- 
 nius occupying responsible positions. Herein lies the 
 chief danger of this modern mode of experimentation. 
 While I do not declare against vivisection itself, when 
 practiced under righteous and humane restrictions, I 
 must declaim with all my heart against the radical abuses 
 of it. Surely it ought to stay such abuses to remember 
 that all the creatures of God are spanned beneath that 
 covenant sign of his protecting mercy banded on the 
 clouds above Ararat and repeated in every Bow in the 
 Cloud since then. 
 
 There is another point to which I may allude, viz, 
 the needless cruelty inflicted oftentimes in collecting 
 
228 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 specimens of living things for private and public cabi- 
 nets. The fact that a man wants to enrich the treasures 
 of a collection of beetles, butterflies, ants, spiders, or 
 other creatures of sea and earth, does not justify him in 
 inflicting cruel pains upon the lower creatures whom he 
 covets for his museum. There are few specimens really- 
 required for the use of man that may not be collected 
 by methods that give painless death. The naturalist 
 may rightly think that as a priest in the temple of Sci- 
 ence and in behalf of Science he can sacrifice the life of 
 the inferior creatures that inhabit the world with him. 
 It may be said that this life exists in such excess, is ex- 
 posed to such constant inroads from all quarters, and 
 withal is so comparatively unimportant, that one may 
 well anticipate the inevitable doom by taking the life 
 which scientific progress requires. But I prefer to base 
 the act, when required by legitimate science, upon that 
 dominion which God has given man over inferior ani- 
 mals, even to the taking of life. That sovereignty must 
 be exercised as one shall answer to God. And in its 
 exercise no pain should be inflicted upon any creature 
 which it is possible to avoid. Every man should hold 
 himself under the highest obligations to spare all need- 
 less sufferings, and limit destruction to the necessities of 
 the case. 
 
 A public speaker always ventures upon dangerous 
 ground when he attempts to criticise anything relating 
 to human dress, especially the dress of ladies. But 
 there is one point to which our subject directly tends 
 that in spite of these possible dangers ought not to be 
 passed by. One can readily conceive a conjunction of 
 circumstances something like this — a pastor looks from 
 his pulpit through a church window, and sees a rainbow 
 spanning an eastern cloud — the symbol of God's cove- 
 nant to protect the fowls of the air. Returning thence 
 his glance to his own congregation, this pastor might 
 behold all the colors of that rainbow reflected into his 
 face from the nodding feathers of wings, torn from beau- 
 tiful fowls of heaven and birds of the air, to decorate 
 the hats, bonnets and cloaks of the children and ladies 
 in the pews ! Now, I do not enter upon the question 
 
THE BOW IN THE CL O UD. 22g 
 
 how far it is lawful for us to use our right over the life 
 of birds and beasts for the purpose of clothing and' 
 adorning the human person. We may consider it set- 
 tled that such acts are lawful when required as contri- 
 butions to the protection and comfort of our bodies. 
 But even if we regard as unsettled the question of our 
 right to use such objects for purely ornamental purposes, 
 we must admit that there is an extreme against which 
 it is our duty to protest, and it seems to me that we 
 have not simply verged upon, but have overpassed that 
 extreme. It has come about that thousands and tens of 
 thousands of the beautiful plumage birds of our country, 
 our noble water fowl and bright-hued wood birds, are 
 slaughtered every season by the paid hunters of milliners 
 and exporters of bird skins. Even the song birds, the 
 sweet companions of our summer hours, whose modest 
 plumage one might think would protect them from such 
 assaults, are not spared, but are slain along with the rest 
 in the confidence that human art and dye stuff can render 
 them suitable objects for the milliner's use. We are in 
 danger, in actual danger of having our native bird fauna 
 exterminated. The melody, good cheer and sweetness 
 which would thus be lost to our life surroundings are 
 considerations of high moment. But apart from these, 
 the material interests of the country would suffer in this 
 loss by destroying one of those natural checks upon the 
 inroads of insect life which preserves for us the balance 
 of nature, and so is an important factor in agricultural 
 economy. As long as ladies indulge this taste for deco- 
 rating their persons with the wings and bodies of birds, 
 just so long will the importers and jobbers in milliners' 
 goods keep their enginery of destruction in cruel and 
 murderous play upon the "fowls of the air." Will the 
 ladies continue this indulgence ? Shall the cry of alarm 
 raised by naturalists, and by such an organization as the 
 Audubon Society for the protection of birds and by the 
 kindly hearted friends of animal life, be heard in the 
 parlors and homes of American women? Surely the 
 gentle hearts of our Christian maids and matrons, who 
 are so ready to respond to the calls of mercy, will hear 
 this plea of the suffering birds, and, remembering the 
 
230 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 rainbow token of God's covenant to protect both beasts 
 ' of the field and fowls of the air, will rise in revolt against 
 a fashion which has in it no claim of necessity, but which 
 is stained a thousand times over with the blood of 
 slaughtered creatures of God ! Will you, fair maid, will 
 you, kind matron, give your example and voice to an act 
 so truly godlike? 
 
 III. A lesson which the Bow in the Cloud is espe- 
 cially designed to teach, is the truth of God's Covenant 
 Faithfulness, and that Peace of mind which results from 
 trust therein. 
 
 The promise to Noah is that nature's order shall be 
 preserved, and the inhabiters of earth never again be 
 destroyed by a flood. The Rainbow was made the 
 of that promise. Every appearance thereof brings to 
 man its reaffirmation. It shows on the vast scroll of the 
 firmament like the broad seal of State upon a parchment, 
 and is the signal and token of God's promise and troth. 
 Indeed, it may be said that every season-change brings 
 to us the same manner of confirmation. " Seed time and 
 harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and 
 night," * with every recurrence, are proofs to us in 
 continued series that God is making his promise sure. 
 These have not failed to the world of men. Nature's 
 fixed order goes on, Heaven's guarantee to earth of an 
 unbroken covenant of natural blessings. 
 
 This should bring confidence and hope to mankind. 
 God's hand is on the world, and He will control it for 
 good to the heirs of his promise. " The voice that rolls 
 the spheres along hath made the promises." Let us 
 trust the promises and be at peace! This is the lesson 
 which the Rainbow has always brought, and doubl 
 was intended to bring to man. It has been beautifully 
 emphasized by more than one of our English poets. 
 
 " When thou dost shine, darkness looks white and fair, 
 I •'. .nns turn to music, clouds to smiles and air : 
 Rain gently spends his honey-drops, and pours 
 Balm on the cleft earth, milk on grass and Rowers. 
 
 *Gen. viii. 22. 
 
THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 23 I 
 
 " Bright pledge of peace and sunshine ! the sure tie 
 Of thy Lord's hand, the object of His eye ! 
 When I behold thee, though my light be dim, 
 Distinct, and low, I can in thine see Him 
 Who looks upon thee from His glorious throne, 
 And minds the covenant betwixt all and One." * 
 
 The following lines are from Campbell's poem : — 
 
 " When o'er the green undeluged earth 
 Heaven's covenant thou didst shine, 
 How came the world's gray fathers forth 
 To watch thy sacred sign ! 
 
 " And when its yellow lustre smiled 
 O'er monntains yet untrod, 
 Each mother held aloft her child 
 To bless the bow of God. 
 
 " How glorious is thy girdle cast 
 O'er mountain, tower, and town, 
 Or mirrored in the ocean vast, 
 A thousand fathoms down ! 
 
 "As fresh in yon horizon dark, 
 As young thy beauties seem, 
 As when the eagle from the ark 
 First sported in thy beam. 
 
 " For faithful to its sacred page, 
 Heaven still rebuilds thy span, 
 Nor lets the type grow pale with age 
 That first spoke peace to man." f 
 
 Man's life is within the protecting covenant of God. 
 Surely this is a truth well calculated to bring peace to 
 the heart. God governs man and all things around him 
 in accordance with an appointed order, and He seeks to 
 bring man himself into obedience to that order. In such 
 knowledge and obedience his heart must surely have 
 rest. His life does not drift at haphazard, but is guided 
 by beneficent law. That log floating along the current 
 you say is drifting. Yonder balloon scudding through 
 the air you say is drifting. That downy seed of dande- 
 lion or thistle rising from the parent stalk and floating 
 
 * Henry Vaughn — "The Rainbow." f Thomas Campbell — 
 " To the Rainbow." 
 
232 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 across the meadow is drifting. Not so ! The log on 
 the current, the balloon in the sky, the seed upon the 
 meadow breeze are all carried forward by laws as fixed, 
 wise and benevolent as those that guide the stars and 
 planets in their orbits. If drifting means a work of sim- 
 ple chance, you cannot apply the word to such acts as 
 those. Much less can you use it of human souls under 
 the hand and government of God the Creator. In Provi- 
 dence there is no such thing as drifting. However it 
 may seem to our eyes, the unseen Hand Divine surely 
 directs all our ways. Every vision of the Bow in the 
 Cloud should confirm us in the belief of this truth, and 
 strengthen our trust in Him who is governing the 
 worlds over us and for us in accordance with the prom- 
 ise which he has made of preservation by order and 
 law. 
 
 The winning yacht " Coronet," according to the log 
 that was telegraphed to us a few days ago, passed through 
 a terrible storm which severely tried and indeed threat- 
 ened the existence of the vessel. But after awhile, says 
 the log, the yacht passed into a centre of calm, and 
 then the men had much needed rest. That is a curious 
 fact with these hurricanes that blow across the ocean. 
 There is always an outlying, swirling, tossing, death- 
 threatening margin of storm. Once past that and within 
 there is a centre of quiet. Ah, how like the storms of 
 this life, an ocean beaten up by the gales, yeasting, froth- 
 ing, roaring and heaving with storm-driven waves ! Yet, 
 ever there is a restful centre ; it is the bosom of our God, 
 and there we can always find rest. 
 
 Let us remember, too, that always the light of loving 
 help speeds to us more swiftly than the bolt of our sor- 
 row. 
 
 And see what joyous greeting 
 
 The sun through heaven has shed, 
 Though fast yon shower be fleeting 
 
 I lis beams have faster s\ 
 For lo ! above the western haze 
 
 High towers the rainbow arch 
 In solid span of purest rays ; 
 
 How stately is its march !* 
 
 *Keble — "The Christian Year." 25th Sunday after Trinity. 
 
THE BOW IN THE CLOUD. 233 
 
 I was once traveling on a Union Pacific train across 
 the great western plains when we were overtaken by a 
 storm. Off to our right the rain descended with such 
 fury that it obscured earth and sky. The ragged margin 
 of the rainfall reached as far as the railway and beat 
 against the windows of the cars. On the opposite side 
 of the train the sunlight poured through the windows 
 with summer intensity and brightness. The result was 
 that for several miles we sped along under a rainbow. 
 It was indeed a striking picture of the mingled storm 
 and sunshine of this life of ours. At one moment of our 
 pilgrimage there is gladness, at another grief. Nay, in 
 the same moment there will be on the one side the buffet- 
 ing of care and adversity, and on the other the sweet- 
 ness of love and success. But above all this commin- 
 gling of storm and sunshine it should never be forgotten 
 that for every soul there may be, and there should be 
 that bended Bow of God radiant with the promise of a 
 hope whose beginning brightens this life and whose 
 eternal continuance is the glory of the life immortal. 
 
 He who has learned the lesson to rest upon God 
 amidst the tumults of this life maybe assured that there 
 shall come for him after life's stormy day " the Saints' 
 Everlasting Rest." Longfellow has beautifully suggested 
 this thought by following the drops of a summer rain- 
 storm in their circuit through the fountains of the earth 
 and the water-courses, up again to the cloud on which 
 the bow of God is setting : — 
 
 For his thought that never stops 
 Follows the water drops 
 Down to the graves of the dead, 
 
 Down through chasms and gulfs profound, 
 To the dreary fountain-head 
 
 Of lakes and rivers under ground ; 
 And sees them, when the rain is done, 
 
 On the bridge of colors seven 
 
 Climbing up once more to heaven, 
 Opposite the setting sun.* 
 
 Yes, it is when the sun is setting that the the rain- 
 bow oftenest appears ; and it appears upon the black 
 
 * Longfellow's Poems — " Rain in Summer." 
 
234 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 thunder-cloud out of which the sharp showers and the 
 forked lightnings have just emptied themselves, and as 
 the cloud is rolling away beyond the horizon. Beautiful 
 symbol of immortal peace! When death's dark cloud 
 has overswept this life and passed away forever beyond 
 the horizon of experience — lo! above the open coffin 
 and the closing grave, far above, upon that vaulted sky 
 into which the soul has passed, the bridge of colors 
 seven is spread for us, and over it we pass into the un- 
 fading glory of our God. 
 
LECTURE XIII. 
 
 The 
 Rainbow around the Throne. 
 
 '•'-And there was a rainbow round about the throne like 
 an emerald to look upon. * * * And in the midst of 
 the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures 
 full of eyes before and behind. And the first creature was 
 like a lion, and the second creature like a calf and the 
 third creature had the face as of a man, and the fourth 
 creature zaas like a flying eagle. And the four living 
 creatures, having each one of them six icings, are full of 
 eyes round about and within : and they have no rest day or 
 night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Al- 
 mighty, which zaas and which is and which is to come.''' 1 — 
 Revelation iv. 2, 4, 6, 7. 
 
THE RAINBOW AROUND THE THRONE. 
 
 John's vision of the Divine Glory of which this text 
 is a part cannot be understood without reference to 
 Ezekiel's vision of the wheels.* The two prophets evi- 
 dently had in view the same objects ; or, if the state- 
 ment be preferred, their minds were similarly impressed 
 by the Holy Spirit in witnessing and declaring the glory 
 of God. What was the vision of Ezekiel ? Briefly 
 stated, the priest-prophet at Chebar beheld a thunder- 
 storm rolling out of the north ; its massive clouds were 
 radiant with vivid lightnings and resounding with thun- 
 ders, an emblem of judgment and divine anger. From 
 the midst of this sublime tumult there arose four Living 
 Forms, strange composite creatures — symbols of the 
 cherubim. They had the general likeness of a man. 
 They were four-winged, two pairs of wings were out- 
 spread above them touching at the tips, and two served 
 as drapery to their bodies. They were four-faced, bear- 
 ing the features of a man in front, of a lion on the right, 
 an ox on the left, and that of an eagle behind or oppo- 
 site the human face. They were eight-armed, two 
 human hands being placed beneath each face and the 
 wings. In the midst of these Living Forms, intertwin- 
 ing among and outflashing from them, were glimmer- 
 ings of fires, as of torches, and flashes of lightning. 
 Beside each one was placed a wheel whose felloes ex- 
 tended heavenward, high and dreadful, and were filled 
 with eyes round about — the emblems of action, intelli- 
 gence, progress, omnipotence. Above the heads of 
 these Living Forms was stretched a crystal firmament; 
 above the firmament a throne as of a sapphire stone, 
 and upon the throne a Likeness as the appearance of 
 man. The throne was girdled about with amber fire, 
 and around the Human Form was " as the appearance 
 
 *Ezek. i. 
 
 (237) 
 
23S THE GOSPEL IN X ATI' RE. 
 
 of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain." 
 This, adds the prophet, was " the appearance of the like- 
 ness of the glory of God." 
 
 In the vision of St. John, the order of description is 
 reversed. Ezekiel begins with the cloud-base and so 
 passes upward to the supporting columns of Living 
 Forms bearing aloft upon their expanded wings the 
 domed firmament, and having beside them the animated 
 wheels as of the very chariot of the Lord. Thence his 
 vision rises to the sapphire throne with its issuing amber 
 flames, to the Manlike Form upon it, and last of all, to 
 the overarching rainbow. On the other hand, John's 
 glance is first at the throne, at Him who sits upon it and 
 the rainbow bending above it. It is noticeable that the 
 thought of Ezekiel passes in orderly sequence from the 
 base to the summit of his visional object, surveying every 
 detail in succession. On the contrary, after the first 
 glimpse of the throne and its Occupants, John's atten- 
 tion passes from one object to another, not in orderly 
 succession but from point to point overleaping inter- 
 vening objects and then returning to cover them. 
 
 Nevertheless we can arrange the succession without 
 any difficulty and trace the resemblances and differences 
 between his vision and Ezekiel's. There are the lightnings 
 issuing from beneath the throne. There are the four 
 Living Forms, except that they are not combined in one 
 person but each represents a separate personality; more- 
 oxer, the calf-face has taken the place of the ox, and 
 the cherubim are six instead of four-winged. The crys- 
 tal firmament of Ezekiel appears to John as a glassy 
 crystal sea. The wheels of Ezekiel disappear, although 
 the eyes upon the felloes of the wheels are trans- 
 ferred to the wings of the cherubim. But in their 
 place John sees, first the symbol of the Holy Ghost, 
 seven burning lamps, which are the seven Spirits of 
 God; ami second, the twenty-four thrones on which 
 are the twenty-four crowned Elders robed in white. 
 The storm-clouds with their lightnings which formed 
 the basis, the chariot-bed, so to speak, of Ezekiel's 
 visional appearance do not appear in John's; but in 
 their stead we have the voices of worship, offered by the 
 
THE RAINBOW AROUND THE THRONE. 239 
 
 cherubim, echoed and enlarged by the elders, the angel 
 choir, and the hosts of the Redeemed in heaven and on 
 earth. More noticeable still, there appears upon the 
 throne a Figure standing beside the sitting Figure of 
 Him who was "like a jasper stone and a sardius." 
 This new Figure is that "as of a Lamb that had been 
 slain." Bending above all, in John's vision as well as 
 in that of Ezekiel's, there is the " rainbow round about 
 the throne." 
 
 The lesson which I would have you learn from the 
 Rainbow as it thus appears in these visions is this : Crea- 
 tion is subordinate to God, is united, harmonious and ac- 
 tive in His government and service, and the whole dome 
 of nature and Providence is covered with the Covenant 
 of Divine Mercy renewed and perfected in Jesus Christ. 
 This is a series of truths which are bound in one sweet 
 lesson by the beautiful emblem which God appointed in 
 the days of Noah as the symbol of His promise of life 
 and peace. In the course of this lecture, we shall con- 
 sider these truths in detail. 
 
 I. We learn, first, the truth that Creation is subordi- 
 nate to God. 
 
 The cherubim of Ezekiel remind us of those that 
 guarded the gates of Paradise to maintain the decrees of 
 God against erring man, lest he should further violate 
 the natural conditions of his creation. They stand 
 guarding the throne of God, silent and seemingly wrath- 
 ful, if so we may interpret the intertwining lightnings 
 and torch-fires, like repelling fiery serpents. But on 
 their expanded wings they bear up the crystal firmament 
 that supports the throne. They are the pillars of Divine 
 government in Nature. The cherubim of John's vision 
 are like Ezekiel's in form, but different in their active re- 
 lations ; they are not silent but vocal, and, in full sympa- 
 thy with the Redeemed who chant their salvation song, 
 they themselves cease not day and night to lift up their 
 Trisagion hymn, " Holy! Holy! Holy!" But, in their 
 passive relations they are one with Ezekiel's cherubim, 
 for they bear up the crystal pavement upon which the 
 throne of Divine government is reared. It is thus that 
 
24Q THE GOSPEL IX NA Tl r RE. 
 
 we come to take these living forms to represent the sub- 
 ordination of the universe to God. They are personifi- 
 cations of natural power employed in God's service, " as 
 standing on the highest step of created life, and uniting 
 in themselves the most perfect created life."* 
 
 The Old Testament has many beautiful examples of 
 this truth as it lay in the minds of the inspired writers. 
 The universe was to them the creation, the handiwork of 
 God. It existed not only by the Divine Will, but in 
 continual obedience to and dependence upon it. The 
 Psalter and the Book of Job especially abound in such 
 references. That splendid poem of Nature the 104th 
 Psalm may be consulted in this connection, and t 
 passages in Job which record Jehovah's answer out of 
 the whirlwind. I render into English verse a few stan- 
 zas from the latter. 
 
 Jehovah's Answer to Job.| 
 I. 
 (Then Jehovah answered Job out of the storm, and said : I— 
 
 2 Who darkeneth God's decrees by wide 
 
 3 Gird up thy loins now with thy human strength : 
 I will inquire, and do Thou answer Me ! 
 
 II. 
 
 4 When 1 laid Earth's foundations, where wast thou? 
 I », 1 lare it, if thou knowest how that was done ' 
 
 5 What architect its plan computed ? — say ! 
 
 ( >r who hath laid on it the measuring line? 
 1 '11 u lut foundation are its pillars sunk ; 
 ( )r who hath laid the corner stone th< : 
 
 7 What time th<- Morning stars together sang, 
 And all the sons of God shouted forji 
 
 III. 
 
 8 And who shut up the sea. with doubl 
 
 When it brake through, and issued from th< woi 
 
 9 When I put round it, for its raiment, < louds, 
 And thi< k mists as the swaddling clothes th. 
 
 10 And measured out its boundaries for it. 
 And bars and doors decreed for it, and said : 
 
 11 Thou shah t ■ 1 rto! No further come ! 
 1 lere be the rising 1 A thy proud wav< 
 
 * Bahr— " Symbolik." i. ;.; '• 
 
THE RAINBOW AROUND THE THRONE. 241 
 
 IV. 
 
 12 Hast thou in all thy days bid forth the dawn, 
 Or caused the dayspring once to know its place ; 
 
 13 That it may seize the fringes of the earth, 
 And shake the wicked out, as from a rug? — 
 
 14 May change the Earth's dim outlines into form, 
 As signet-ring the face of plastic clay ; 
 
 And Nature stands forth from obscurity 
 Appareled in the lovely robe of Day? 
 
 15 Then from the wicked is withheld their light, — 
 For night is light to them !— and in the act 
 
 Of violence the upraised arm is stayed. 
 
 V. 
 
 16 Hast thou e'er reached the well-springs of the sea, 
 Or gone to the foundation of the deep ? 
 
 17 Were e'er the gates of Death unveiled to thee, 
 And didst thou see the gates of Hades' realm ? 
 
 19 Hast thou observed the compass of the earth ? 
 Speak, in so far as thou dost know all this ! 
 
 20 Which is the pathway to the Home of Light ? 
 And Darkness — whither lies its dwelling-place, 
 
 21 That thou should'st guide each to its utmost bound, 
 And know the paths back to the house thereof? 
 Ah ! thou must know it ! for thou wast then born, 
 So very great the number of thy days ! 
 
 II. There is something more than a simple Subordi- 
 nation of Natural Forces taught in this vision of St. 
 John. We learn that in the plan of God all Nature is 
 in Harmonious Service with God. 
 
 Seraphim and cherubim, angels and archangels join 
 with mankind and the animate world and with all inani- 
 mate nature to advance the Divine Glory. The whole 
 universe of intelligent and material creatures is repre- 
 sented as built into and enclosed within one mighty 
 temple of glory beneath the all-enclosing dome of the 
 rainbow which overarches the throne. In order to get 
 this thought of harmonious service we will need to in- 
 quire into the meaning of the strange Living Forms in 
 the vision — emblems of the Cherubim. 
 
 Undoubtedly these forms, as Layard has suggested,* 
 were familiar to Ezekiel and to the people whom he 
 addressed, inasmuch as they are conceptions which be- 
 long to the common treasury of Oriental symbolism. 
 They appear in the temple of Jerusalem. They were 
 
 * Lavard — "Nineveh," ii. 44S; "Nineveh and Babylon," ii. 643. 
 
242 THE GOSPEL IX X. 1 77 'RE. 
 
 among the most familiar art objects in Assyrian and 
 Babylonian temples and palaces. They are seen in the 
 sphinx and other Egyptian forms, and in the griffin or 
 eagle-lion of Greece. It would be useless to attempt 
 here a discussion of their varied symbolism. It will be 
 enough if we see in them the united types of the 
 highest forms of Nature, spiritualized and engaged in 
 harmoniously supporting the throne of God and con- 
 tributing to his service. 
 
 It is curious, to say the least, that the animal types 
 which form the composite symbol of the cherubim, are, 
 by even the latest students of Zoology, placed at the 
 head of their respective natural families. The lion leads 
 the noble and familiar Felidae or Cat family, the fil 
 
 rder of Carnivora.* The <>x stands at the head ol 
 the family of Bovidae, or hollow-horned ruminants as 
 they are termed, including the oxen, buffaloes, antelopes, 
 sheep and goats.f The eagle leads the raptorial birds 
 in rank, standing at the he. id of the family Vulturidae of 
 the order Accipitres.J Man himself, of course, is the 
 highest of all the creative forms of Earth. Surely, it 
 1 not have been by mere chance that such a combi- 
 nation as this should have been taken from among the 
 creatures to mirror forth the Divine Creative life in 
 ■ glory. At all events these animal types could 
 not have been better chosen to exhibit the manifoldness 
 and fullness of creative life. 
 
 It is not without significance, also, that these high 
 of tin- inferior orders are so closely associated by 
 Ezekiel and John with man. We see this composite 
 figure, which represents the highest order of angelic in- 
 telligence, rising cut of and compounded, so to speak, of 
 . lion, ox, and man. What (Iocs this mean ? Is there 
 1 1 • • t here a startling suggestion of something very much 
 
 lie theory ol modern evolution? Indeed, I winder 
 
 that some Christian evolutionist has not made use of this 
 
 ery to d< clare an ancient ami Scriptural recognition 
 
 of the development hypothesis. For the manner in 
 
 ♦Wright — " Animal Life," pi \ Wallace — " The 
 
 iphical Distribution of Animals, vol. ii. p The 
 
 Classification of Sir Victoi Brooks. | Wallaci . Idem, 345. 
 
THE RAINBOW AROUXD THE THRONE. 243 
 
 which this association may be sufficiently explained 
 from another standpoint, I must refer to my last Lecture 
 upon the covenant made with Noah for himself and the 
 lower creatures. However, it is certainly true that there 
 are natural forces and faculties which man, on the animal 
 side of his nature, bears in common with the noblest 
 orders of beasts. Strength of the ox, courage of the 
 lion, activity of the eagle, parental affection and self-de- 
 votion in all, are traits which belong to our humble 
 friends of the brute creation, and which have received 
 the highest expression in man. 
 
 In man, did I say? The saying can only be limited 
 by the comparatively narrow confines of this life. The 
 living forms whom we are considering are proofs of this. 
 The ruder forces, basilar powers of Nature that have 
 such fitting representatives in the ox, lion, and eagle, 
 must in some sense enter into the nature of the cheru- 
 bim themselves. Why not? Broadly speaking, zoolog- 
 ical life may be compared with a pyramid at whose base 
 lie the lowest forms, creatures of the water that possess 
 the most rudimentary organs and simplest functions. 
 Type on type of higher organism rises until the classifi- 
 cation ends in man. He is the perfect organism, so far 
 as human observation extends. But, confessedly, there is 
 a vast interval between him and God the Creator. Is 
 this interspace vacant of correlated forms of life? Is 
 there nothing living to bridge the void between humanity 
 and Deity ? Yes, there are the angels ! Science has not 
 yet discovered, but Revelation has uncovered them; and 
 there is nothing contrary, but much in harmony with the 
 facts and theories of science in the revelation. A dis- 
 tinguished naturalist, whom I have more than once 
 quoted, has said: "The grand law of ' continuity,' the 
 last outcome of modern science, which seems absolute 
 throughout the realm of matter, force, and mind, so far 
 as we can explore them, cannot surely fail to be true be- 
 yond the narrow sphere of our vision, and leave an infi- 
 nite chasm between man and the Great Mind of the 
 Universe ! Such a supposition seems to me in the high- 
 est degree improbable." * 
 
 * Wallace — "On Natural Selection," page 372. 
 
244 THE G< >SPEL IN X. ! TURE. 
 
 Our pyramid then may not and docs not end in man. 
 Man is simply the fleshly termination thereof. The edi- 
 fice of life goes on through those mysterious ranks of 
 being known to us as angels, until it vnd> at the very 
 pillars of the Divine throne in the highest grade of an- 
 gelic being, the cherubim themselves. 
 
 N >r is it contrary to the truth to express this contin- 
 uity of life from the earth side upward by a symbolism 
 drawn, first, from inanimate nature, as the clouds and 
 rainbow, and next, from the highest orders of animals 
 and from man. Moreover, the physical qualities which 
 such creatures as the eagle, ox and lion personify are 
 certainly possessed by those angels whose life hi 
 we read, though in too brief glimpses, in the Holy Bible. 
 Their swiftness of motion, loft}- com-age, strength, su- 
 preme powers of destruction as the executors of judg- 
 ment in the Divine government, — these and such like 
 traits appear in the angels of Sacred history. The}- are 
 not impalpable impotencies — mere ideals. They are 
 - ; the}- are thrones, principalities, powers. They 
 touch and move the fountains of Nature. The}- call fire 
 from the rock and dews from the air, as in the ca 
 the angel who appeared to Gideon.* The}- hold in their 
 hands the forces that throb and glow in earthquake and 
 volcano, as in the case of th< angels who procured the 
 destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. '<' The}- control 
 the mighty forces of disease and death, which the}- are 
 commissioned to use, as in the judgment ot pestilence 
 sent upon the Israelites in the days of David, T and the 
 pestilence which slew the first-born of Egypt,§ and the 
 destruction of the Assyrian host, so vividly described 
 by Byron. || 
 
 The Assyrian came down lik«- the wolf '>n tin- fold, 
 And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold : 
 
 Am! til-- sh( en "f their s]K-ars was like stais <>n the Sea, 
 When the blue wave rolls nightly on d lee. 
 
 Like ti)'- leaves of the forest when summer i^ green, 
 That h'>st with their banners at sunset were seen ; 
 
 of resl when autumn hath bl< iwn, 
 
 That host on tl"- morrow lay wither'd and strewn. 
 
 *Judgesvi. 38. i ( [I. Sam. xxiv. 16. }Ezod. 
 
 \ii. 23. II. Kings xix. 35. 
 
THE RAINBOW AROUND THE THRONE. 245 
 
 For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, 
 And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd ; 
 And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill, 
 And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still.* 
 
 In the New Testament we read of an angel putting forth 
 physical exertion, as when one rolled away the stone from 
 the door of our blessed Lord's sepulchre. Throughout 
 the entire book of Revelation we see angels move through 
 the vision of the exiled apostle in numberless missions of 
 providence and grace. They see, they eat, they speak, 
 they sing, their voices are heard by human ears, their 
 touch is felt upon human hands, as when they led Lot 
 and his family forth from Sodom. In short, they com- 
 mand material forces and achieve material results. 
 When they appear their bodies resemble a human form. 
 Nor is there any indication in Scripture that these bod- 
 ies are not real and only assumed for the time and then 
 laid aside. For myself I believe that they are material, 
 though of a form of matter of which we as yet can form 
 no true conception, but which some day, perhaps, in the 
 progress of a sanctified science, we shall be able to un- 
 derstand if not discern. That the angels do not all pos- 
 sess human form is manifestly the opinion of Ezekiel 
 and John, as we learn from their description of the Life 
 Forms by which the cherubim are represented. At all 
 events their life history, so far as the Bible gives it, 
 accords with the fact which these cherubic symbols 
 express, and shows them united in sympathetic and 
 harmonious service of God with man and the inferior 
 animals and with all creation. 
 
 2. There is another significant fact in the symbolism 
 of these cherubic emblems that must now be noticed : 
 they are embodied in wings. That is to say, the wings 
 are not only stretched above them constituting the frame- 
 work of the firmament at whose four corners they stand, 
 but they cover and, one might say, compose the whole 
 lower part of the body. What is the significance of 
 wings ? Undoubtedly they are a spiritual emblem of the 
 highest significance. According to the Greek tradition, 
 
 * Lord Byron— "The Destruction of Sennacherib." 
 
246 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 the beautiful human bride of Cupid who was at last en- 
 dowed with immortality, was conceived in mythology 
 and art under the form of a winged maiden, or at other 
 times as a butterfly, which bore the same name. The in- 
 sect, most frequently the butterfly and moth, breaking 
 from its unwinged chrysalid state into the imago or 
 winged form, has been regarded as symbolizing the same 
 truth. The outspread wings, as an emblem of the Di- 
 vine protection, are one of the most common Egyptian 
 emblems, appearing continually over the gates of tombs 
 and temples. In Scripture usage we find these protect- 
 ing wings in the beautiful blessing ofvBoaz to Ruth, " A 
 full reward be given thee of the Lord, the God of Israel, 
 under whose wings thou art come to take refuge."* The 
 Almighty speaks of having borne his people as on the 
 wings of eagles, f having brought them out of Egypt as 
 an eagle carries its young ones 143011 its wings. " Hide 
 me under the shadow of thy wings," is the cry of David,! . 
 in the hour of distress, and the sweetness of this refuge 
 he expresses in the words, " How precious is thy loving 
 kindness, O God ! and the children of men take refuge 
 under the shadow of thy wings." § 
 
 The accuracy of observation, the delicate sympathy 
 with nature and the beautiful, the genuine poetical spirit 
 and taste of the ancient bards and inspired prophets have 
 never been more truly illustrated than in their choice of 
 such a symbol to express such spiritual truths. There 
 is certainly no object in nature that challenges higher ad- 
 miration for wonderful structure than the wings of a 
 bird, and were there no other than that, it seems to me 
 that it alone would be enough to demonstrate the power 
 and presence of an Infinite Mind. 
 
 Any one who has watched the flight of the meadow 
 lark as it arises from "the dewy weet," and sings in the 
 upper air ; or who has followed the spiral course of the 
 hawk or eagle rising higher and higher until it beats its 
 wings against the very gate of heaven; or who has fol- 
 lowed the strong flight of sea birds, gull, albatross or 
 Mother Cary's chickens over the crests of tempest-driven 
 
 *Ruthii. 12. f Exodus xxi. 4; Deut. xxxii. n. \ l's. xvii. 8. 
 \ l's. xxxvi. 7. 
 
THE RAINBOW AROUND THE THRONE. 247 
 
 waves, must have felt a strange uplifting of soul, a long- 
 ing to share such perfection of motion, a yearning to 
 mount up on wings as eagles. I can remember that as 
 one of the strongest emotions of my boyhood as I lay 
 upon the grassy hillsides, and watched the flight of birds. 
 
 Often have I sat at my father's door watching in child- 
 ish absorption the flight of martins, swifts and swallows 
 as they skimmed the air for insect food in the gathering 
 shades of evening, and counting with eager interest those 
 that stayed their flight to perch on the ball, the rod and 
 harp-shaped weather-vane crowning the village church 
 opposite our home. And often did I wonder, admire 
 and wish that I too could fly, like those weird birds, and 
 stand upon the pinnacle of the church steeple and fling 
 myself with joyful abandon from it, and skim away upon 
 outstretched wing over street and rooftop. 
 
 Perhaps there are few children who have not felt the 
 same emotion, and it is sympathy with such a spirit that 
 merges easily into those spiritual aspirations which lift 
 the soul above the grosser things of life to high and pure 
 communion with the things of heaven. A bird upon the 
 wing is a physical expression of the very poetry of mo- 
 tion, and is a perfect symbol of a soul's aspiration for 
 the higher life. 
 
 Wordsworth in his address to a sky-lark thus sweetly 
 breathes this sentiment : — 
 
 I have walked through wildernesses dreary, 
 And to-day my heart is weary ; 
 Had I now the wings of the faery 
 
 Up to thee would I fly. 
 There is madness about thee, and joy divine 
 In that song of thine. 
 Lift me, guide me, high and high 
 
 To thy banquet place in the sky.* 
 
 The same poet speaks of the same bird as a 
 
 Type of the wise, who soar but never roam, 
 True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home. 
 
 Our sacred hymnology has many traces of the same 
 symbolism, some of our most familiar hymns being 
 
 * William Wordsworth— "Address to a Sky-Lark." 
 
248 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 quite based upon them. For example, we have Sea- 
 grove's hymn : — 
 
 Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings, 
 
 Thy better portion trace ; 
 Rise from transitory things 
 
 Towards Heaven thy native place. 
 
 And there is also the favorite hymn of Isaac Watts : — 
 
 Give me the wings of faith to rise 
 
 Within the vail, and see 
 The Saints above — how great their joys, 
 
 How bright their glories be. 
 
 We are now prepared to understand the significance 
 of the wings which form so large a part of the Living 
 Forms both in the vision of Ezekiel and St. John. The 
 nature-powers of intelligence, strength, courage, and 
 action symbolized by man, ox, lion, and eagle are repre- 
 sented as spiritualized by means of the wings that sus- 
 tain, encompass, and rise above them. The thought that 
 comes to us is that these types of nature are devoted to 
 the spiritual service of God. They are separated from 
 their animal life and consecrated to the highest uses. 
 The whole symbol beautifully expresses to us the thought 
 of. Nature as purified, spiritualized, and devoted to the 
 worship and glory of the Holy God. 
 
 How much the world needs to learn this lesson! 
 
 We are approaching the last decade of the nineteenth 
 century, a century that has been characterized above all 
 by two great social phenomena. The first is the won- 
 derful manifestation of spiritual power and philanthropy. 
 This is exhibited in the revival of religious work among 
 the laity; in the high valuation of childhood; in the 
 organization of Sabbath-schools; in the founding of 
 Christian missions ; in the consecration of the Church 
 and its substance to the evangelization of heathen na- 
 tions; in the introduction of woman's influence and 
 efforts as a potent factor in the world's work and duty; 
 in the establishment of those magnificent institutions of 
 charity that have done so much to relieve human misery; 
 in the advancement of mankind to a higher plane of 
 personal liberty, free thought and free government. All 
 
THE RAINBOW AROUND THE THRONE. 
 
 249 
 
 this is the result of the religious and moral element of 
 society, vitalized by the seven Spirits of God, filled with 
 the restless activity of the Living Forms before the 
 throne, and animated by the lofty and merciful spirit 
 which breathes through the beautiful symbol of the 
 overspanning rainbow above the throne. 
 
 Side by side with this great moral force there has 
 moved through the century the spirit of modern science. 
 Scientific thought has been possessed with the restless 
 activity and numberless eyes of the wheels of Ezekiel's 
 vision. Heaven and earth, sea and air have been sought 
 out, searched into, and have uncovered their mysteries 
 as never before. Mankind has been continually startled 
 by marvelous developments of physical science, and the 
 practical results which have issued therefrom. There 
 are some questions which, as we draw near the close of 
 the century, urge themselves more and more upon our 
 thought: Shall these two mighty forces, the religious 
 and scientific, diverge or unite? shall they join in frat- 
 ricidal conflict, or clasp hands in loving fraternity in the 
 service of humanity and the worship of God? Are 
 these two forces maintaining harmonious development 
 and progress? Is not the scientific outrunning the re- 
 ligious ? Is not the material overshadowing the moral ? 
 Have we not had already too much science, or if you 
 please so to put it, with our much science have we not 
 had too little of that moral preparation without which 
 science cannot be a blessing? In this generation we 
 behold numberless gifts and endowments, the hard earn- 
 ings and possessions of science, go to societies who are 
 often in whole or in part "too low morally and intellect- 
 ually to know how to make the best use of them."* As 
 a result we have seen these scientific endowments be- 
 come curses rather than blessings. 
 
 Take examples. The art of distillation taught by 
 science is a blessing in the mechanical arts and medicine, 
 but it has become an overshadowing curse through the 
 drinking habits of the day. The moral nature of man 
 is not able to control his own appetite, and the moral 
 
 * Wallace — " Natural Selection," page 330. 
 
250 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 tone of society cannot rise to the point of facing and 
 suppressing the enormities of the drink-evil. We are 
 brought face to face with the humiliating facts that men 
 are expending for intoxicating drinks millions of money 
 where they spend thousands for the cultivation of their 
 minds and the elevation of their homes. Science has 
 given us rum, and rum has given us poverty, pauperism, 
 crime. Science has uncovered to us the art of distilla- 
 tion, and the art of distillation has bestowed upon the 
 world, along with a modicum of blessing, an amount of 
 sorrow and wickedness which is truly incalculable. Few 
 homes have not felt the blightings of this curse. Few- 
 hearts have not been wrung by it with agony; while the 
 home and the state have been burdened with expenses 
 which far outweigh all other ordinary expenditures of 
 the family and society. 
 
 Yet we cling to our drink-traffic and keep our unclean 
 streets, our unadorned walks, our cobble-stone pave- 
 ments, the very worst perhaps that the world has ever 
 seen, with the single exception of the corduroy roads of 
 pioneers' days ; we cling to the drink- traffic, and keep our 
 crowded jails, penitentiaries, almshouses, orphanages. 
 We cling to our drink-traffic, preferring to spend mil- 
 lions of money in manufacturing criminals, miserables, 
 paupers, rather than stop the traffic and spend our 
 money in beautifying our city, and blessing our fellows. 
 Yes, we prefer it ! — for, society elects it. 
 
 Again, gunpowder and that more recent explosive, 
 dynamite, are gifts bestowed by science upon society, 
 and is it not a question — nay, I may venture to say that 
 it is not a question at all — whether society is ready to 
 receive them? In our country we have spent millions 
 of money to explode gunpowder through death-dealing 
 missiles upon the red men of the West; and we have 
 spent tens of millions only to educate and Christianize 
 them. Glance at Europe! See marshaled on every 
 border vast hosts of soldiers, armed with weapons of 
 war, the highest products of mechanical science. Hear 
 the ring and clatter of factories and arsenals, directed by 
 the highest scientific skill, busied in preparing yet more 
 perfect, that is to say, yet more destructive agencies 
 
THE RAINBOW AROUND THE THRONE. 25 I 
 
 against human life, limb and property. Have these 
 gifts of science been bestowed upon societies quite pre- 
 pared to receive them ? Or, is there no known higher 
 use to which these unnumbered millions of gold, and these 
 priceless thousands of men, with all these high attain- 
 ments of science and art can be put, than to devise and 
 prepare modes by which human beings may destroy 
 each other? 
 
 We need take no other example. It is a serious re- 
 flection for society, while science continues to pour her 
 new discoveries into our lap> whether this be an unal- 
 loyed blessing? Certainly, at least, we dare affirm that 
 it never can be so unless morals, religion, purity, truth, 
 and nobility of heart and life keep pace with scientific 
 discoveries. The man who divorces science from reli- 
 gion is an enemy of his kind. I assert it without hesita- 
 tion, and on such grounds as that which I have here dis- 
 closed. The thought has been admirably expressed by 
 a French lady, Madame Adam, in a recent English re- 
 view : — 
 
 " You must have moral as well as material good. A 
 government which aims only at the one and forbids the 
 other is a bad government. The science which forces 
 itself, absolute and unintelligible, on the ignorant, is not 
 one whit better than the obscurantism which tries to 
 force itself on the enlightened. When science claims to 
 be all-sufficient, she makes an empty pretension. She is 
 but one fold of the veil of Isis — the fold that sweeps the 
 ground. 
 
 " It is the business of the man of science to observe 
 the conditions of matter. It is the business of the priest 
 and the moralist to observe the conditions of spirit. 
 Each of them seeks to utilize a given force for the ma- 
 terial or moral benefit of man. If the scientific man has 
 sometimes to remind the priest of the conditions of 
 physical existence, the priest in his turn has to remind 
 the scientific man of the conditions of moral life." * 
 
 Christian women and men, what have you to say 
 towards the solution of this problem ? What will you 
 
 * " Paul Bert's Science in Politics," by Madame Juliette Adam. 
 Quoted from the "The Contemporary Review," January, 18S7. 
 
2 5 2 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl RE. 
 
 do to bind into harmony these two living forces, reli- 
 gion and science? What will you do to prepare the 
 world by the gift of religion for the gifts of science ? 
 The duty is before us, the struggle is upon us. The de- 
 mands for action, for prayer, for unceasing supplication 
 at God's throne, and quenchless energy in the propaga- 
 tion of Divine truth, are everywhere upon the blast, and 
 they besiege our ears with calls that might well awaken 
 the dead. If our souls be dead to the momentous issues 
 of this conflict, may God awaken us to-day! If the 
 world shall fail to discern this duty, and shall sleep on, 
 shall dream on in fancied security, leaving an unsancti- 
 fied science to join with unsanctified commerce, unsanc- 
 tified industry, and an unsanctified press to materialize 
 mankind and destroy morals and faith from the earth — 
 alas, alas, the final conflagration, the wreck of society, 
 the ruin of the civilizations of the past cannot be far 
 
 away 
 
 III. We have come to the last truth in our lesson : 
 the whole Dome of Nature and Providence is covered 
 with the Covenant of Divine Mercy renewed and per- 
 fected in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Let us catch up for a moment the thread of these pro- 
 phetic visions of which we have been thinking. 
 
 Ezekiel's first glance is at the wrath-charged thunder- 
 storm. Thence it travels upward toward the lightning- 
 surrounded Living Forms to the theanthropic Form upon 
 the throne, ending in the overarching rainbow "like the 
 hanging out from the throne of the Eternal of a flag of 
 peace."* John's vision begins where Ezekiel's ends — 
 with the rainbow emblem which, however, bends above an 
 additional Form, that of the atoning Lamb who is in the 
 midst of the throne. The apostle's glance travels down- 
 ward, and finds instead of Ezekiel's pedestal of thunder- 
 clouds and lightnings, the family of God in heaven and 
 earth, angelic and saintly, hymning a doxology to the 
 Creator of the universe, and the Redeemer of all souls. 
 One cannot but see even from this imperfect analysis oi 
 the two visions th.it the eye of John has noticed the 
 
 *Fairbairn's " Ezekiel." 
 
THE RAINBO W AROUND THE THRONE. 253 
 
 changed conditions of the Church of God. It is fixed 
 upon a period far in advance of the time of Ezekiel. It 
 recognizes the vast progress made in the history of re- 
 demption, the introduction of new elements, as the 
 Mediator, and the joyful hymns of the reunited children 
 of God, a family made one in the Sovereignty of grace. 
 The old nature-emblems are still there, the Living 
 Forms, the crystal expanse of firmament, the rainbow 
 overarching the throne. They carry with them, too, 
 much of their old meaning, but there is come to them a 
 new force, a sweeter and profounder sense. 
 
 John's vision reveals to us just beneath the rainbow 
 dome with its message of safety and peace, the person 
 of Jesus, "the Lamb as it had been slain." The dome, 
 the summit of this visional temple of the new worship, 
 is the rainbow. The base, the floor, is not the storm- 
 charged clouds fearful with lightnings, as in the vision 
 of Ezekiel, but a group of living, holy, joyous beings, 
 the united family of God, the family of heaven and of 
 earth engaged in holy service. The Living Forms lift 
 up their Trisagion hymn, "Holy! holy! holy!" The 
 crowned Presbyters raise their doxology, " Worthy art 
 thou, O Lord our God, for Thou didst create all things." 
 Then there is silence. The vision undergoes a change. 
 The Lamb is seen in the midst of the throne clad with 
 the seven spirits of God, the emblem of the Holy Ghost. 
 Now the Living Beings and the crowned Elders strike 
 their celestial harps and lead the choir of the universe 
 in their new song, while the heavenly temple is filled 
 with the incense of the prayers of saints. Hark ! This 
 is the song which they raise : " Worthy art thou, for 
 thou wast slain and didst purchase unto God, with thy 
 blood, men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and 
 nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom 
 and priests; and they reign upon the earth." Now the 
 innumerable company of angels, ten thousand times ten 
 thousand and thousands of thousands, and every created 
 thing which is in heaven and on the earth, and under 
 the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them 
 are heard raising their voices in mighty chorus, saying : 
 " Unto him that sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb 
 
254 THE GOSPEL IX X AfC RE. 
 
 be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the 
 dominion forever and ever! And the four Living Crea- 
 tures said 'Amen !'" The song rises aloft through the 
 whole animated Temple of holy beings and echoes under 
 that rainbow dome which speaks in every band and color 
 concerning the New Covenant of Mercy, the Covenant 
 which is in the Blood of the Atonement, by which the 
 world of believers is forever saved from the deluge of 
 Divine wrath. The Rainbow marked that bright day 
 when the Covenant of Peace dawned upon a destroyed 
 world. The Rainbow shall crown that Blessed Day 
 when in the full fruition of the Covenant the whole Ran- 
 somed Church shall join with Creation in the jubilee of 
 finished Redemption. 
 
 Could anything more forcibly and clearly present to 
 us, in symbolism at least, the truth that in the ideal cre- 
 ation, all things, visible and invisible, shall join in har- 
 monious praise of God through Jesus Christ the 1 
 To-day we seem to be far away from that blessed con- 
 summation. To-day, as the Apostle Paul has declared,* 
 " we know that the whole creation groaneth and travail- 
 eth in pain together until now." " For the creation was 
 subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of 
 him who subjected it." But on the same page that de- 
 clares this manifest truth we have the sweet utterance 
 of the "hope that the creation itself also shall be deliv- 
 ered from the bondage of corruption unto the liberty of 
 the children of God. For the earnest expectation of the 
 creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.f 
 
 When shall that glad day come ? When shall all the 
 forces of nature, ami all the discoveries of science, and 
 all the faculties of the human mind together bow in 
 humble worship before Christ and render praise for final 
 redemption? Shall that day ever come? Surely it 
 shall come! May God grant that we, each one in his 
 place, may do our best to further its coming ! Thus we 
 may be sharers in the final glory and blessedness of that 
 service of universal worship which forever shall ascend 
 in the temple of the Highest beneath the rainbow dome 
 that covers the throne of God and the Lamb. 
 
 * Rom. viii. 22. f Rom. viii. 19. 
 
LECTURE XIV 
 
 The Angel and the Rainbow. 
 
 "And I saw another strong angel coming dozen oaf of 
 heaven, arrayed with a cloud ; and the rainbow was upon 
 his head, and his face zvas as the sun, and his feet as pil- 
 lars of fire, and he had in his hand a little book open.'' — 
 Revelation x. 1-2. 
 
THE ANGEL AND THE RAINBOW 
 
 The tenth chapter of the book of Revelation contains 
 material upon whose explanation I do not even venture. 
 It will satisfy the requirements of this lecture if we con- 
 sider the holy being described in our text as an angelic 
 minister in a divine livery, that is, presented in the 
 natural symbols which represent the Lord Jesus, and 
 sent forth with the Gospel. He appears clothed with a 
 cloud, an emblem in the Scriptures of something ex- 
 alted, heavenly, spiritual, mysterious, and therefore 
 Divine. His face is as the sun, a symbol of majesty and 
 Divine truth. His feet are as pillars of fire, emblems of 
 that purity with which the Holy Church and all holy 
 ministries should touch the earth and move among men. 
 
 "And the rainbow was upon his head." Undoubtedly 
 we must regard this head-dress as the coronet or crown 
 of the angel. The rainbow is his diadem, and the lesson 
 which the symbol teaches is, manifestly, that the angelic 
 ministries are.crowned with mercy to men. That cove- 
 nant of Divine compassion and preservation, by which 
 mankind is inspired with eternal hope, is surely the very 
 crown of the Revelation of God ; its symbol is therefore 
 worthy the loftiest angel to wear, worthy the noblest 
 spirit of earth to accept, for it expresses the sublimest 
 attribute of God Himself. 
 
 In paintings and sculptures upon the tombs and tem- 
 ples of Egypt royal personages are depicted by artists 
 as crowned with the uraeus, a poisonous serpent. 
 Egyptologists have thought this to be an emblem of 
 the swiftness and deadliness of royal power. Thus the 
 Pharaohs hedged themselves about with terror. How 
 sharp the contrast between these ancient kings of earth 
 and our heavenly King Jesus ! He is, indeed, Divine, 
 Omnipotent, All-glorious, but he crowns his majesty 
 
 (257) 
 
2 5 8 THE Gt >SPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 with compassion towards the lowly, the ignorant and 
 them that are out of the way. 
 
 These characteristics belong to all who arc appointed 
 by God angels or messengers of good will towards men. 
 We may give to this figure the widest interpretation. 
 We see here something more than the ministry of holy 
 angels continually exercised for God among saints ; 
 mine than a type of that sacred ministry by which in 
 succession of the ages the hoi)' Evangel is disseminated 
 whether by word of mouth or written scroll. We see 
 here a type of all agents and instruments whatsoever 
 that stand forth in the eye of heaven as messengers of 
 truth ; a type of even-thing that is or shall be a lawful 
 carrier to men of messages of light and help from any 
 quarter of Heaven or any point of God's universe. 
 
 In this view of St. John's vision, the strong angel 
 crowned with the rainbow, who is seen speeding with 
 fiery feet through the heavens bearing a written roll or 
 book, typifies not only a Christian Church and ministry, 
 but Christian Art, Science, and Literature. All these 
 have been and ought to be angelic messengers bearing 
 an evangel of holiness and good will. Alas! the)' have 
 not always been such. Such they are now only in part. 
 The good has ever been perverted by evil. The livery 
 of heaven has always been seized to clothe Satan there- 
 with ; the very angels of light have been dragged down 
 to become messengers of darkness and corruption, so 
 that over Art, Science and Literature, sacred and secu- 
 lar, aye, over the pulpit itself, the holy angels of God 
 have been compelled to lift up the sad wail, " How art 
 thou fallen from heaven, Star of day, son of the morn- 
 ing!" * It is from this broad interpretation of the mis- 
 sion of tin- angel and the rainbow that our discourse 
 shall proceed. 
 
 I. Our first and principal lesson therefore is that the 
 Purity, Majesty, and Strength of God as presented in 
 the Gospel and represented by all Angelic Ministries, are 
 dominated by Divine Mercy. 
 
 * Isa. xiv. i2. 
 
THE ANGEL AND THE RAINBOW. 
 
 J 59 
 
 The messenger of heaven is crowned with the rain- 
 bow. The fitness of this natural symbol as a token of 
 heavenly mercy and human hope has been universally 
 recognized. It stands almost alone among atmospheric 
 phenomena as wholly separated from the thought of 
 discomfort and pain, loss and death to the human race. 
 Nature, for the most part, like the Roman god Janus, is 
 two-faced. When gazing upon one face we see radiant 
 smiles ; looking upon the other we behold frowns. From 
 the one face go forth utterances of gladness and benefi- 
 cence, from the other voices of terror and destruction. 
 To-day we gaze upon the clouds with admiration of 
 their beauty and gratitude for their fruitful showers ; to- 
 morrow they gather in black masses that utter terrifying 
 thunders and flash forth lightings to destroy. The rains 
 and rivers bring us blessings, but their floods at times 
 blight as with a curse. The winds are our helpful ser- 
 vants, but they beat us with the terrible tornado and 
 desolating storm. The snows greet us with many forms 
 of beauty and beneficence, but they carry in their 
 bosoms the elements of death. Even the sunlight, har- 
 binger of love, the source of unnumbered blessings, 
 beats upon the world in the fierceness of a tropical sum- 
 mer, smiting men by day. But the rainbow is a creature 
 of simple beauty. It is lovely without a trace or sug- 
 gestion or possibility of harm. It is seen when the 
 storm is sinking out of one horizon while the sun ap- 
 pears in another. It is the emblem of storms that have 
 passed. It speaks of hope; it charms by its Varied 
 colors and stirs within the heart no sentiment but admi- 
 ration, gratitude and praise. 
 
 This has been the universal sentiment of the race. 
 " Look upon the rainbow," says the son of Sirach in the 
 Apocrypha, " and praise Him that made it. Very beau- 
 tiful it is in the brightness thereof. It compasseth the 
 heaven about with a glorious circle, and the hands of 
 the Most High have bended it."* The ancient Greeks 
 and Romans regarded it in the same light. Iris was 
 the goddess of the rainbow, and was represented as 
 
 * Ecclesiasticus xliii. n-12. 
 
2<5o THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 the daughter of Thaumas, Wonder, and Electra, Light- 
 ning, and the granddaughter of Ocean and Earth. 
 She was the messenger of Jupiter, king of the gods, 
 and of Juno his queen. She lived among the other 
 deities of Olympus, which she only left for the purpose 
 of conveying divine commands to mankind, by whom 
 she was looked upon as a guide and adviser. She trav- 
 eled with the speed of the wind, always from one end of 
 the world to the other, could penetrate to the bottom of 
 the sea or even to the Styx, the place of the dead. It 
 was her office to charge the clouds with water from 
 lakes and rivers, in order that they might go forth in 
 gentle fertilizing showers. She was represented as a 
 beautiful virgin with wings of varied hues, clad in robes 
 of bright colors and riding on a rainbow; at other 
 times with a nimbus on her head on which the colors 
 of the rainbow were reflected.* 
 
 Homer thus alludes to this goddess in the course of 
 his description of the armor of Agamemnon in which 
 " the king of men" arrays himself for battle: — 
 
 "Three glittering dragons to the gorget rise, 
 Whose imitated scales against the skies 
 Reflected various light, and arching bowed, 
 Like colon-d rainbows o'er a showery cloud 
 (Jo\ e's w< mdrous bow, of three celestial dies, 
 Placed as a sign to men amidst the skies)." f 
 
 In the same Book Homer represents Iris as the mes- 
 senger of Jove, exercising her office at the close of a 
 thunder-storm in bearing a divine command to Hector 
 in the midst of the battle between the Grecian and 
 Tn>jan troops. 
 
 " Bui fove descending shook the Idsean hills, 
 Anddown their summits poured a hundred rills; 
 The unkindled lighting in his hand he took, 
 And thus the many-colored maid bespoke: 
 ' Iris, with haste thy golden wings display, 
 To godlike 1 lector tins our word convey. 1 " 
 
 By the I Irermans the rainbow is called Bi frost, the Liv- 
 ing way; and Asen-briicke, the Bridge of Asen.J The 
 
 Mi rray: -"Manual of Mythology," page 162. f "Tin.- Iliad," 
 Book xi., Pope's translation. J Delitzsch. 
 
THE ANGEL AND THE RAINBOW. 26 1 
 
 ancient Hebrews looked upon it as a great band, joinino- 
 heaven and earth, and binding them both together, as 
 the Greek ip«; comes from ecpcv, to tie or bind.* They 
 made it, therefore, the sign of a covenant, or of a relation 
 of peace between God in Heaven and the creature 
 upon the earth. It carried to their minds a thought 
 similar to that of the heavenly stairway or ladder^of 
 Jacob's dream, which united the throne of God to the 
 stone pillow upon which the sleeping exile rested his 
 bead. It is thus that we are led up to the conclusion 
 that the rainbow diadem of this angel messenger teaches 
 us that all true angelic ministries to men are dominated 
 by the Divine Mercy. 
 
 1. We see this first and especially in the Personal 
 Ministry of Christ. 
 
 The crowning attribute of God is compassion. The 
 New Testament, indeed I might say the whole Scripture, 
 is the presentation of Jesus Christ as the Saviour. His 
 incarnation, the germinal principles of his religious 
 teachings, and his holy sacrifice for man, are presented 
 in the four Gospels. The subsequent sacred books re- 
 cord the founding of the primitive Church, and the de- 
 velopment and application of the principles which Christ 
 taught by the apostles whom he commissioned. Every- 
 where the central truth is the manifestation of Divine 
 love in the life and death of Christ. " God commendeth 
 his love toward us," exclaims St. Paul, "in that, while 
 we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."f " Herein is 
 love," writes St. John, " not that we loved God, but that 
 he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for 
 our sins."J This is in entire harmony with what our 
 Saviour Himself taught: "God so loved the world that 
 He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 on him should not perish, but have eternal life."§ 
 
 This glory of Christ is associated with his human life 
 and office. In the life and death of Jesus all other reve- 
 lation is corrected, completed, crowned, and man beholds 
 
 • * Kxo /\ E V §. ee Lange, Gen. ix. in loc. f Rom. v. S. t I John 
 iv. 10. £ John 111. 16. J 
 
262 THE GOSPEL IX NATURE. 
 
 the Almighty not simply as a Force, but as a Father. 
 Christ shines in the light of heavenly mere} - , for he in- 
 terprets mercy unto men. He displays to the world the 
 thought of a Pardoning God. The eternal Throne is 
 illumined by that conception. It fills all heaven with 
 radiance. It lights up the coldest chamber of earth. 
 Yes, Christ shines in bodily presence before us the radi- 
 ating source and centre of man's noblest conception of 
 the Deity. He is God manifest in the flesh. He bridged 
 the gulf between Jehovah's throne and footstool with his 
 own sinless humanity,- and over the bridge man passed 
 as never before, and, beholding the Father, exclaimed, 
 " I have seen God face toface,and have been preserved ! " 
 
 I. do not say that this was a discovery, but it certainly 
 was a rediscovery. The Jews had the truth of the Fath- 
 erhood of God, but the}' had retired it from popular 
 view. They were interpreting the Good Father to the 
 people of Christ's day as a task-master; an "austere 
 man," reaping where he did not sow.* Thus they had 
 driven men to doubt and impiety, to bury their talents 
 in the earth, and defy the coming judgment. Jesus 
 restored the old view of God as a Patriarchal Judge. 
 He stood amid the splendors of the earthly sanctuary 
 and called God, " Abba, Father ! " Since the days of 
 the Shekinah the Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah 
 never knew a brighter effulgence. 
 
 The Greek and Roman ideas n\ God had fallen into a 
 deeper gulf of theological error than the Jewish. It has 
 been remarked that in the Homeric representations of 
 divinity and humanity, what most strikes us is that 
 whereas the human characters are in their measure win- 
 ning, attractive and heroic, the divine characters are 
 capricious, cruel, revengeful, sensuous.f The revel 
 of God in Christ to such minds was something more 
 than a revelation. It was a revolution ! 1 low profound 
 a revolution it is impossible for us of this day and gene- 
 ration to conceive. It is the glory of Christ among 
 men that as the Son of Man he held forth both the holi- 
 and the Love of the divine Father. In Christ's 
 
 ! six. 21. rANLET — " Christian Institutions," 
 
 page 
 
THE ANGEL AND THE RAINBOW. 263 
 
 human life that glory was, indeed, veiled within a cloud 
 as he moved among men, but still it appeared. Its rays 
 were continually breaking through in the miracles of 
 healing and divine benevolence that he wrought, symbols 
 and foretokens of that blessedness which his fuller civili- 
 zation has brought to the sons of earth. We see him 
 walking on the sea, manifesting thus his power not only, 
 but symbolizing the truth that in coming days the spirit 
 of his civilization should triumph over nature, bridge 
 the seas with ten thousand hulls, flash human thought 
 underneath the ocean's waves, and, seizing everywhere 
 nature's mightiest forces, bring them in subjection to the 
 loft}- thought of divinely-cultured mind. We see him 
 raising the dead, manifesting thus his power, indeed, 
 but setting forth also a symbol of the truth that life 
 should be made more sacred, and unnumbered multi- 
 tudes saved from the grave by the spirit of that divine 
 Charity which he would engraft upon learning and 
 science. 
 
 Through all these scenes of his earth life he was as 
 the sun moving amid the clouds of morning which his 
 rays had not yet scattered. He waited thus for the 
 crowning act of his offering upon Calvary, the culminat- 
 ing commendation of God's love. 
 
 2, We are taught the same lesson concerning those 
 kindred ministries to men — Science, Art and Literature. 
 We confine our thoughts to Literature, which is well 
 symbolized by "the little book" that the angel bore in 
 his hand. The symbol is very apt as representing the 
 modern magazine, and especially the daily journal, which 
 is often a veritable fitftXapidiov (biblaridion) or booklet, 
 both as to the amount and value of its contents. That 
 is indeed a mighty messenger, whose force can hardly be 
 measured by even angelic mensuration, which comes to 
 the world on the wings of the printing press. Do I see 
 aright when I behold its type in this angelic ministry? 
 Do I take too lofty an ideal when I declare that the 
 function of the press is to sweep the world as with puri- 
 fying fires, under the high coronation of goodness and 
 truth ? 
 
264 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl r RE. 
 
 There is no subject that will better repay earnest con- 
 sideration and discussion than the ethics of journalism. 
 The functions, privileges and responsibilites of the daily 
 press in particular need to be defined. The definition is 
 somewhat complicated with other questions of great 
 importance to society, as for example the "liberty of the 
 press;" but the common welfare is deeply involved in 
 right conclusions upon these points. The opinion which 
 seems to prevail, among newspaper proprietors at least, 
 is that the daily journal is a commercial enterprise 
 solely, and is only amenable to the laws, responsive to 
 the influences, and subservient to the conditions con- 
 trolling all other business. Its chief function is held to 
 be reportorial; that is, to communicate to its purchasers 
 the events transpiring in the world, particularly in the 
 community forming its immediate constituency. 
 
 The ideal newspaper, according to this standard, is 
 simply a purveyor of news, good and bad alike. It re- 
 flects, as from a mirror, upon the public at large those 
 incidents which occur in detail throughout the various 
 parts of society. It turns a many-faced camera upon 
 the events of daily life, and catching them upon the 
 sitized plates of a reporter's brain, reproduces the united 
 impressions and places them in the market at a fixed 
 price. It claims that what the public wants is "news,'' 
 and that its own responsibility is ended when the public 
 is furnished with what it desires. Further than that it has 
 sponsibility at all, except to see to it, as any shrewd 
 businessman would do, that its operations are conducted 
 upon careful and honest commercial principles, and are 
 made successfully. Whatever may be said ^\ this ideal, 
 it must 1)'- admitted that, as a matter of fact, a large pro- 
 portion of our leading journals arc apparently conducted 
 upon these theories. Lei us briefly examine them. 
 
 In the first place, let me say that no man, or men, who 
 claim to speak to or tor the people, can put themselves 
 upon the basis of simple private enterprise. It is not in 
 human nature to permit this ; it is not in the constitution 
 of society; it is not in the purpose of God. The instincts 
 <>! communities, their intuitive perception of what is right 
 and safe, cry out against such a position. Every pastor 
 
THE ANGEL AND THE RAINBOW. 265 
 
 of a church in this city might set up for himself and his 
 people the plea : " We are simply an assemblage of pri- 
 vate individuals, bound together by common consent, to 
 worship God according to our consciences, and procure 
 for ourselves and families the instructions of a qualified 
 teacher of the Sacred Scriptures, who will also exercise 
 among us other sacred and comforting functions of the 
 gospel ministry. The State pays us nothing, and it has 
 absolutely no concern with us and our pastor as long as 
 we conform to law. We attend to our own business; 
 what have we to do with the public, or the public with 
 us?" 
 
 But society would decry such an utterance, and though 
 the claim seems to have the color of justice, society 
 would be right in decrying it. Even in this land, where 
 there is no established religion, the pulpit is under the 
 most solemn restraints, and has high obligations and re- 
 sponsibilities to the public at large, which no wise and 
 good man for a moment would deny. The very position 
 of the minister, even though he be the private pastor of 
 an individual and private church, is such that community 
 will always demand from him a measure of responsibility 
 and a standard of private behavior and public action, 
 which it could not ask from others. If you say this is 
 unjust, I must answer that the instincts of society are 
 usually just and right, and in this case we must declare 
 that the voice of the people is the voice of God. 
 
 A similar standard obtains in the case of the public 
 orator, the lecturer upon the rostrum and platform ; in- 
 deed, of all who stand before their fellows to voice senti- 
 ments that may mould men and control the thinking, 
 the conscience, the behavior of the masses. Now, there 
 are few agencies that speak to men in these days in such 
 numbers and with such potent influence as public jour- 
 nals. Can they escape from that responsibility which 
 rests upon others in like positions? They cannot! They 
 ought not to ask for, they ought not to be permitted 
 such deliverance! The public says, and rightly says, 
 and should continue to say, " Will ye or nill ye, ye must 
 pass under the high and solemn responsibility of those 
 who set themselves, or who are set by others in the 
 
266 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl r RE. 
 
 place of prophets and guides of the people. At the 
 peril of your souls, at the peril of the- judgment of His- 
 tory, and the High Assize of Eternity, ye must exercise 
 that prophetic calling! Woe unto you if ye be false 
 prophets ! Woe unto you if ye be blind guides ! " This 
 then is our first principle — no individual.no organ.no 
 association which is essentially a creator and director of 
 public opinions and morals can be safely regarded and 
 treated as a simple commercial agent, for these functions 
 are in the nature of a public trust. 
 
 Undoubtedly the newspaper has its commercial side, 
 as every agency of good must have. It is a law of lit- 
 erature as of the gospel that they who are its voices to 
 men must live thereby ; but there is a vast difference be- 
 tween living by the preaching of the gospel, and preach- 
 ing the gospel simply for a living. I mark the same 
 difference in the moral attitude of every man who is a 
 voice to or for the people. He is to be honored who 
 lives by literature, but he is unworthy of his high voca- 
 tion who pursues literature under whatever form simply 
 for the gain thereof. I do not, I cannot believe that the 
 great army of gifted men and women whose vigorous 
 and incisive intellects are devoted wholly or in part to 
 journalism are the authors of, or can rest easy under 
 such a bare commercial theory of the functions and 
 sphere of the press. Surely, it is the echo of the count- 
 ing-room, not of the editorial chair! It is not "the sil- 
 ver tongue," but the silver dollar that speaks thus. Alas 
 that money should ever have power not simply to re- 
 compense, but to command intellect ! 
 
 There is no more pitiful figure in history than that of 
 Balaam, the mysterious prophet out of the East, as he 
 stood above the hosts of God in that memorable soul- 
 struggle which Scripture records.* The bribe of honor 
 and wealth Mas at his hand if he would utter a curse 
 instead of a blessing upon Israel. The noble element 
 within him, the divine, the true, struggled for victory. 
 His judgment, his conscience, his feelings were all with 
 the tented army of the true God whose faces were to- 
 ward the gates of Canaan. " How goodly are thy tents, 
 
 * Num. xxii.-xxiv. 
 
THE ANGEL AND, THE RAINBOW. 267 
 
 O Israel!" involuntarily he exclaimed. But Mammon, 
 self-love, " the rewards of divination " struggled vigor- 
 ously on the other part. Alas ! the victory was not with 
 noble spirit, lofty intellect, commanding genius, high 
 attainments. There on those mountain heights these 
 gifts of God struggled in vain with the spirit of evil and 
 ignominy. 
 
 That old conflict is renewed in the bosom of many a 
 gifted man to-day. Could my words reach those bright, 
 vigorous and most promising intellects who supply the 
 brain-force of journalism, I would say to them: The 
 price of divination is indeed great. But no earthly guer- 
 don is as worthy as the gift itself which you possess. 
 This endowment of God to speak with words of power, 
 vocal or printed ; to thrill the soul ; to awaken emotion ; 
 to excite thought; to arouse lethargy ; invigorate weak- 
 ness; guide ignorance; mould character; inspire con- 
 duct; shape destiny — this is the endowment of the true 
 seer, the vates, the diviner. This power is yours. Do 
 not sell it for paltry gold ! Keep it pure, true to God, re- 
 ligion and humanity. Though the counting-room should 
 say " Stand and deliver ;" though the whole world should 
 cry " Stand and deliver," do you refuse to deliver this gift 
 of heaven to befoulment by a policy that would put the 
 sacred gift of divination upon the market, to be sold in 
 the shop and huckstered and cried on the street on a 
 level with the wares of the fakir. Do not mistake me; 
 it is not the selling of the journal that is ignoble but the 
 selling of the man who makes the journal, the selling of 
 the principles that make the man ! 
 
 The second principle which I advance is that there 
 are limits to the right of people to know and of the press 
 to communicate knowledge. 
 
 The messengers and ministries that bear the written 
 book and printed page must be dominated and circum- 
 scribed by goodness, truth and holiness. Indeed, on 
 what principle of natural right and justice can one de- 
 clare that he has claim to all knowledge — any more 
 than to all land? Such an idea is communistic, and 
 there is a communism of knowledge which carries a 
 grave error and a serious peril. 
 
268 THE GOSPER IN NATURE. 
 
 There is knowledge which is not power, but rather 
 weakness. There are facts that corrupt and enervate 
 the mind. There are things that men are better far 
 for not knowing. The night-life of a great city; the 
 transactions of our slums and centres of moral impur- 
 ity ; the life which is lived by human creatures down 
 in the muddy sediment of this great stream of human- 
 ity — surely these have no claim to be known by the 
 masses of humanity. I raise the contention that they 
 are not subjects for the ordinary legitimate enterprise of 
 journalism. Enough that they must be known by those 
 whose office it is to suppress the powers and purify the 
 centres of corruption. Knowledge, illicit knowledge was 
 the destruction of our first parents. It dragged them 
 down from their exalted estate, and sent them forth from 
 Eden banished and fallen. No Scripture could possibly 
 be more appropriate here than St. Paul's command to 
 the Romans : " But I would have you wise unto that 
 which is good, and simple unto that which is evil."* 
 
 It is to be feared that to-day, in the perverted taste for 
 information that had better be locked up within the secret 
 records of police courts, society shall once more be ban- 
 ished from its Eden .of purity, and wander shame-faced 
 and fallen throughout the earth. If that sad day comes, 
 it will come largely under the leadership of a public 
 journalism which has espoused the false ideal against 
 which I have animadverted, and degraded itself to sell 
 illicit news and popular opinions at a cent or two cents a 
 copy. 
 
 There are indeed times when the suppression of abuses 
 and correction of hidden evils require that the worst fea- 
 tures of society should be exposed to the public gaze. 
 And there are newspapers who with noble fearlessness 
 and wise discretion make themselves the worthy pioneers 
 in disclosing these secret vices, and advocating their cor- 
 rection and the punishment of offenders. 
 
 It would be impossible for us to fix the limits within 
 which either the pulpit, the platform or the press should 
 confine such revelations of criminal life. But that there 
 is a limit, cannot be doubted. Certain I am at least 
 
 * Rom. xvi. 19. 
 
THE ANGEL AND THE RAINBOW. 269 
 
 that to print such disclosures simply for the sake of the 
 sensation produced and the gain harvested thereby, is as 
 unworthy in the press as it would be in the pulpit. To 
 do it as a part of the bounden duty and lawful work of 
 one who is called to prophesy in behalf of good and 
 against all evil, is as praiseworthy in the press as in the 
 pulpit. 
 
 There is a theory of journalism which asserts that the 
 purpose of the press in its revelations of all wickedness 
 is to convict the community of sin and awaken it to 
 righteousness. This, at least, throws over the revelations 
 the mantle of a worthy motive and mission. Even thus, 
 we must declare that it is perilous in the highest degree 
 to break down barriers and guards, and allow all manner 
 of public prints to glean with unsparing hand from the 
 criminal life of a vast city, and spread the gleanings with 
 unfettered license before the eyes of young and old, ex- 
 perienced and inexperienced, pure and impure alike. 
 There is no power in the simple revelation of sin, in the 
 disclosure of wicked deeds, to turn souls to righteous- 
 ness. If that were so, the " Police Gazette " might 
 become a very gospel — more powerful for good than 
 any pulpit. On the contrary, it is usually the case that 
 familiarity with vice hardens the conscience, breaks 
 down sensitiveness of the nature against evil, thus pre- 
 paring a way for it. Only those who have within them- 
 selves the living principle of a holy life, whose charac- 
 ters are strong, who are braced and bolted down to the 
 ways of virtue, who are proof against assault, can with- 
 out contamination come in daily contact with the ways 
 and words, thoughts, sentiments, and policies of the 
 unclean. 
 
 Revelations of sin never should stand alone. They are 
 never influential for good when so standing. There is 
 no impulsive power towards righteousness within them ; 
 no expulsive power as towards sin, no attractive power 
 towards heaven. Something more, something positive 
 is required for that. The voice which cries, " Repent! 
 repent! " must also say, " The Kingdom of Heaven is at 
 hand ! " The exhibition of human loveliness as per- 
 fected in Jesus Christ, the disclosure of Divine love as 
 
2/0 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 incarnate in Jesus Christ, these are forces that expel 
 sin, and urge toward holiness. The. life and gospel of 
 Christ, the morals, the intentions, the sequences of Chris- 
 tianity give men a sense of sin, teach them their im- 
 perfection, clarify and correct their false ideas of life, and 
 open up before them the pathway of deliverance from 
 evil. It is not enough to show men that they are 
 floundering in the slough of sin, you must also show 
 them that there is a life of holiness and happiness which 
 is better, and to which it is possible for them to attain. 
 There must come along with the revelation of sinfulness 
 the correcting power of human sympathy and human 
 help. 
 
 These are general principles; they apply to all minis- 
 tries that go forth among men for good. They apply to 
 the press, and I hold it to be truth that those news- 
 papers and magazines that hold up before the people 
 most prominently, persistently and attractively the beau- 
 ties of human life, the beauties of nature, the glories of 
 honesty, of honor, of righteousness, of truth ; those 
 newspapers that habitually pour upon human minds the 
 light, sweetness and blessedness that may be garnered 
 everywhere around us, are those who, by furnishing 
 lofty ideals, do the very most to convict men of sin and 
 .deliver them therefrom. We cannot, therefore, accept 
 the theory, that a legitimate function of journalism is to 
 print unlimited reflections of the night-life society, even 
 though it shall do it with the noble motive of convicting 
 the world of sin, and leading it to righteousness. The 
 mirror must be turned toward heaven ! Yes, chiefly 
 towards the pure, bright sweet heavens of God; and 
 must reflect upon society the image of God and of the 
 godlike. 
 
 It would indeed be a grateful assurance could we ap- 
 ply to the future of journalism, as was recently done in 
 closing a public address by a prominent journalist of 
 Philadelphia,* the words of the Psalmist :f "The Lord 
 gave the word, great was the company of those that 
 published it ! " 
 
 * Mr. Talcott Williams. | Ps- lxviii. 11. 
 
THE AXGEL AXD THE RAINBOW. 27 I 
 
 II. Let us turn, in the second place, to mark the man- 
 ner in which Heaven's Angelic Ministries are Received 
 by Mankind. 
 
 It is pitiful to think that the angel of the Gospel, 
 crowned with his symbol of mercy and peace, has so 
 often been rejected by men. Yet there always have 
 been those who joyfully have received the holy message 
 and thanked God for the messenger. There are two 
 words often used in this nineteenth century: "Experi- 
 ence — experiment." They are heard in halls where a 
 spurious Nature-worship is rendered by a blind priest- 
 hood to the god of analysis and synthesis. They will 
 not believe in a soul unless they can experiment with it. 
 Very good ! It is a good word, — experience. It has 
 long since been received into the very bosom of the- 
 ology. We have our treatises on religious experience, 
 and there is no word better known among evangelical 
 Christians than " experimental religion." A " Christian 
 experience " is in fact the only or chief test of fitness for 
 Christian fellowship in most Protestant communions. 
 It is claimed by a great multitude, whom no man can 
 number, that they have drawn near through Christ unto 
 God ; have experienced renewal of their inner life, an 
 uplift of their natures toward Heaven, a widening of 
 hopes, a kindling of aspirations which they never knew 
 before; that they have tasted of the joys of the Lord, 
 have been in communion with the Spirit of Holiness. 
 They can say and do say with the great doctor of the 
 Gentiles, " We know whom we have believed." 
 
 Call up the witnesses ! Who are they ? From mod- 
 ern times back to the earliest they stretch a living link, 
 binding the garden of Eden with these closing decades of 
 the nineteenth century: Clark Maxwell, Henry Wilson, 
 Agassiz, Garfield, Logan, Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Joseph 
 Henry, Michael Farraday, Isaac Newton, Milton, Mathew 
 Hale, Fabricius, Linnaeus, Erasmus, Calvin, Knox, Luther, 
 Savonarola, Huss, Wycliffe, Paul, Moses, Enoch, Abel, 
 which was the son of Adam, " which was the son of God." 
 These all walked with God. They felt the change of the 
 new life. They " experienced religion." Their testi- 
 mony surely is worthy to be received on this as upon 
 
-7- 
 
 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 other points, and that testimony must pass for proof that 
 there is reality in religion, that communion with God is 
 a fact based upon experiment. I could bring Jo you to- 
 day an hundred witnesses whose testimony would be re- 
 ceived in any congress of savans upon any one of the 
 various points of Natural or Physical Science, in which 
 they are experts, without the slightest hesitation. These 
 witnesses with one consent will agree upon these facts 
 which I have stated. They have experienced them. 
 With them it is a matter of personal experiment and ob- 
 servation. They know the realities of the soul-lite, the 
 possibilities of communion with the eternal God, and the 
 power of the world to come. Who will reject their tes- 
 timony? On what grounds should their testimony be 
 rejected? These clear-minded, careful men who ponder 
 every fact with discriminating judgment, cannot be given 
 credence upon one line of facts and denied it in another 
 concerning which they are equally competent and confi- 
 dent as witnesses. No ! the facts of the spiritual life are 
 facts. The world has been full of witnesses thereto since 
 ever the world was ; and still as the Angel of the Gos- 
 pel goes forth with the " little book " believers and wit- 
 nesses spring up to affirm their experience of its hea- 
 venly power. 
 
 Why should so many reject the Testimony ? I often 
 wonder: Are they defective on the spiritual side of their 
 natures ? Have they persisted in withholding belief and 
 acceptance until their will-power in that direction has 
 ceased? If so, such men should have little weight as 
 witnesses in any question of religion. 
 
 The difference between the blue light at one end of the 
 beautifully-colored spectrum band and the red at the 
 other, is nothing more nor less than a difference almost 
 identical with a difference between a high note and a low- 
 note upon the piano. The reason why one end of the 
 spectrum is red and the other blue, is that in light as in 
 sound we have a system of disturbances or waves; we 
 have long waxes and short waves, and what the low notes 
 are to music the red waves are to light. The disper- 
 sion of light, whether effected by refraction or diffrac- 
 tion, is simply the sorting out, and arranging in regular 
 
THE ANGEL AND THE RAINBOW. 
 
 -/ o 
 
 succession, of the various light tones in the order of 
 their wave-lengths. 
 
 We can now recognize the strict analogy between the 
 world of sound and the world of light. Ears are tuned 
 to hear different sounds — some people can hear much 
 higher notes than others, and some people can hear 
 much lower notes than others. In the same way some 
 people can see colors to which other people are blind ; 
 indeed, the more we go into this matter, and the more 
 complete we make our inquiries, the more striking be- 
 comes the analogy between these two classes of phenom- 
 ena.* Is it so, indeed ? Are there those to whom the 
 beauty of the rainbow is but an empty name? Yes, 
 many of us know such persons. Would it not be a most 
 foolish act to set the "color blind" to judge the merits 
 of painting? If a man lack the natural gift of spiritual 
 insight, or have deliberately extinguished his own spir- 
 itual vision, is he a trustworthy guide for you or any 
 soul in the most solemn and important of all decisions ? 
 I trow not ! 
 
 There are eyeless fishes in Mammoth Cave. What if 
 they with their atrophied sense of sight could be per- 
 mitted to hear and understand the experience of the 
 great-eyed dwellers of the deep sea? We might fancy 
 the latter telling of the wonders of sunlight as it is seen 
 in the waters of the ocean ; of the beds of coral ; of sea 
 anemones, flowers of the great deep; of rocks and 
 sounding breakers, boiling surf and rolling waves ; of 
 icebergs, and rivers of the sea like the Gulf Stream ; of 
 great ships, of forests buried beneath the waters, and 
 green fields above them ; of all those wonders of organ- 
 ic and inorganic life which abound in and around the 
 ocean and its depths. 
 
 Our eyeless fish, listening with incredulity, ridicules 
 the deep sea creature's experience, declaring out of its 
 own consciousness, judgment, observation and experi- 
 ence that such things as it had heard never could be — 
 never ! Well, pass from this fable, to suppose one who 
 
 * J. Norman Lockyer— " The Chemistry of the Sun." (1SS7.) 
 Page 87. 
 
2;4 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 has had no experience of things that belong to the spir- 
 itual world, whose eyes have never been opened upon 
 the glory oi~ Christ, the sweetness of faith and hope 
 and communion with God, in the act of ridiculing the 
 
 experience of a Christian, denouncing it as impossible, 
 chimerical, absurd, because, forsooth, these things had 
 never been known as a part of his own soul's experience ! 
 
 III. We have now thought first o{ the Nature of 
 Angelic Messengers, and second the Recipients of their 
 Ministries. Let us turn a closing thought to the Pur- 
 t hereof. 
 
 Undoubtedly that purpose is to give men immortal 
 life with God. The little book which the angel with the 
 rainbow brings out of heaven to the world is that gift of 
 Jesus Christ in which life and immortality have been 
 brought to life. The rainbow crown which surrounds 
 the angel's brow becomes in turn the coronal of believ- 
 ing men. That is indeed a gift, the soul's coronation 
 with Divine love! Blessed is he who is thus set apart 
 as a king and priest unto his God forever, whose life is 
 girdled and glorified by the protecting covenant of 
 Divine mercy ! 
 
 Often, when a small boy, I watched the rainbow span- 
 ning the valley of the Little Beaver creek, on wh< >se 
 banks stands the Ohio village where I was born. I was 
 told — and what lad has not heard the same enticing as- 
 surance ? — that if I would go to the foot of the rainbow, 
 yonder, where it just touched the earth, I would find a 
 pot of money. I think it did occur to me to wonder 
 why, then, my seniors did not go and get it? They 
 not usually so self-denying in the matter of youth- 
 ful treasure-pots! But with the trustful simplicity of 
 childhood I believed the assurance, and carried in my 
 heart the resolve one day to secure that treasure as my 
 own. Well do I remember the day when at last I 
 mustered courage to undertake the task. No Jason ever 
 set forth in search of Golden fleece with more hopeful 
 spirit than I. Over fields, across the shallow water, up 
 the rugged slopes of Pine Hill, beneath the hemlock 
 boughs, — only to find the withdrawing image further 
 
THE ANGEL AND THE RAINBOW. 275 
 
 still away, and to stretch out my little empty hands 
 towards the last dim tints that were vanishing from the 
 sky. Poor weary-limbed toddler! what a disappointed 
 heart did I carry home that day within my bosom ! 
 
 Have I been wiser as a man than I was as a child ? I 
 do not know; but I have thought that after all, the 
 old traditional trick of boyhood had within it a hidden 
 truth. There is a treasure at the foot of yonder rain- 
 bow for those who know how to find it, though, indeed, 
 it is not to be found by pilgrimages over running streams 
 and rugged hill-sides, in vain outgrasping after material 
 treasures. I read the riddle differently now, and have 
 tried to tell you what is that hidden wealth that lies 
 within the circle of the Bow of God. Have you learned 
 the lesson aright? Do you know the secret by the 
 sweet experience of that peace which comes through the 
 mercy of God in Jesus Christ? Thus interpreted, there 
 can be no better wish for you than that you may retain 
 the old childish longing for, and faith in the treasure of 
 the rainbow. Oh, if our hearts could but keep fresh 
 through all our days, the innocence, trust, hopefulness, 
 and unworldiness of childhood ! 
 
 My heart leaps up when I behold 
 
 A Rainbow in the sky ; 
 So was it when my life began ; 
 So is it now I am a Man ; 
 So be it when I shall grow old, 
 
 Or let me die ! 
 The Child is Father of the Man ; 
 And I could wish my days to be 
 Bound each to each by natural piety.* 
 
 Surely you all can wish that. By God's help try to 
 make good your desires. Let every heavenly ministry 
 vouchsafed to you, be used with intelligent faithful- 
 ness. Thankful for the help which God gives you in 
 His Church, His ministry, His ordinances, His word, 
 His Sabbath — add day to day and decade to decade 
 until all life from childhood to manhood shall be 
 arched with the beauty of holiness, and your souls at 
 last " over the bridge of colors seven " shall pass from 
 earth to Heaven ! 
 
 * William Wordsworth — "The Rainbow." 
 
276 THE GOSPEL IX NATURE.. 
 
 To mark the lives of friends, parishioners, readers, 
 hearers thus growing in all womanly beaut)- and manly 
 strength ; to see characters developing sweetness, be- 
 nevolence, patience, industry, unselfishness, love, every 
 Christian virtue and grace — this is the highest reward 
 as it should be the lofty purpose of every spirit who 
 ministers living thoughts to living souls. The Pastor's 
 holy pleasure in the ripening characters of these sub- 
 jects of his ministry has well been expressed by one of 
 the noblest of England's Christian poets.* 
 
 These In Life's distant even 
 
 Shall shine serenely bright, 
 As in the autumnal heaven 
 
 .Mild rainbow tints at night, 
 When the last shower is stealing down. 
 
 And ere they sink to rest, 
 The sunbeams weave a parting crown 
 
 For some sweet woodland nest. 
 
 The promise of the morrow 
 
 Is glorious on that eve, 
 Dear as the holy sorrow 
 
 When good men cease to Iv 
 When brightening ere it die away 
 
 Mounts up their altar flame, 
 Still tending with intenser ray 
 
 To Heaven whence first it came. 
 
 Say not it dies, that glory, 
 
 'Tis caught unquenched on high, 
 
 Those saint-like brows so hoary 
 
 : wear it in the sky. 
 No smile is like the smile of death, 
 
 When all good musings past 
 Rise wafted with the parting breath, 
 
 '1 he sweetest thoughts the last. 
 
 * K: BLE — " Christian Year." 25th Sunday after Trinity. 
 
LECTURE XV. 
 
 Lessons from the Spring. 
 
 u The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, 
 the flowers appear o?i the earth, • the time of the sing- 
 ing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle dove 
 is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her 
 green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give 
 a good smell" — Song OF Songs ii. n-13. 
 
LESSONS FROM THE SPRING. 
 
 This piece of exquisite composition is an extract 
 from the " Song of Songs, which is Solomon's." It is a 
 description of that period of the year in the Holy Land 
 which lies between winter and summer, and which by 
 analogy may be called spring. In point of fact there are 
 but two seasons in Palestine which are referred to con- 
 tinually throughout the Bible as summer and winter, 
 cold and heat, seed time and harvest. This is the gen 
 eral division, although, of course, in a country so situ- 
 ated there is great diversity and variety of climate. We 
 think of the United States as embracing an immense 
 variety of climate and products. There is nothing spe- 
 cially remarkable, however, in such a fact considering 
 the vast expanse of our domain. But when we think of 
 Palestine as a little strip of land one hundred and fifty 
 miles in length and forty miles more or less in width, it 
 is a matter for remark that its climate should vary with- 
 in that limited range from the cold snows of the summits 
 of Mount Lebanon to the tropics of the valley of the 
 Jordan. One may pass by a few hours' travel from the 
 depths of winter on the mountains about Jerusalem to 
 the palm groves and sugar fields of the Ghor at the head 
 of the Dead Sea, and in the vicinity of Jericho. But we 
 shall have substantial accuracy if we hold to the thought 
 that the Holy Land is divided into the two seasons 
 of a comparatively rainless summer and a winter that is 
 marked by heavy rains. I have already alluded to this 
 feature in the climate of Palestine in a previous lecture,* 
 and it will only be required to state here that " the win- 
 ter" of our text is this season of rain. 
 
 The winter rains commence about the beginning of 
 November, and continue with greater or less constancy 
 until the end of February or the middle of March. 
 
 ""Lecture XI. : "Showers of Blessings." 
 
 (279) 
 
2S0 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 They arc a succession of severe showers or storms, with 
 intervening periods of fine bright weather permitting 
 the grain crops to grow and ripen. The climate during 
 
 the winter months is very similar to that of the south 
 of France, or the maritime districts of the north of 
 Italy. When the season rains have ceased, and the win- 
 ter is over and gone, the whole face of the earth, having 
 been fed and prepared by the nourishing showers, is 
 quickened by the warm sun into luxurious fertility. 
 The grass springs up everywhere; the hills are 
 ered with verdant olive trees; the fig trees and pome- 
 granates, which grow in great abundance, push out their 
 green figs and fresh leaves; and in the days of Solomon 
 as now, no doubt the}- were everywhere intermixed 
 with the vines which were in great luxuriance.* The 
 flowers just forming into the grape diffuse far and wide 
 that delightful fragrance which is familiar to all vine- 
 growing lands in early spring. 
 
 We may suppose, without departing from reasonable 
 probability, that Solomon drew his beautiful descn 
 fn>m his own familiar pleasure-gardens. History has 
 testified to the character, beauty and extent of these, 
 and the great king has himself left record of his tast . 
 which was indeed a prevailing passion among many ori- 
 ental sovereigns of ancient times: "I planted me vine- 
 yards, I made gardens and parks, and planted them with 
 trees of every kind of fruit. 1 made me pools of water 
 to water therefrom nurseries of forest trees. "f Here we 
 have the natural groundwork of the allegorical descrip- 
 tion of Nature contained in the Song of S<>ngs. Vine- 
 yards and gardens, pleasure-gardens, fruit trees, and 
 
 -pools are mentioned atvario - in the £ 
 
 : ihus, in his description of Solomon's buildings, 
 magnificence, and glory, relates that the king was a 
 lover of horses and chariots, then remarkable objects 
 in Judea, and that lie drove in a high chariot, surround- 
 ed by halberdiers of his life-guard in gorgeous attire in 
 gold-powdered hair. He often drove forth as early in 
 the morning as daybreak, the most delightful period of 
 
 inar — "Mis i n of Inquiry to the Jews," pagi 
 
 ii. 4-6. 
 
LESSOXS FROM THE SPRIXG. 28 1 
 
 Palestine in summer, to his lovely gardens, not far dist- 
 ant from Jerusalem.* 
 
 How fond Solomon was of Nature is manifest not 
 only by the statement concerning him f that he dis- 
 coursed concerning trees and cattle, birds, creeping 
 things and fishes, but by the manner in which these ob- 
 jects continually appear in his writings. In this Song of 
 Songs, for example, repeated mention is made of the 
 cedars of Lebanon, of cypresses, of palms, of lilies, and 
 the thorns among which they grow, of myrrh and aloes, 
 the camphire, mandrakes, calamus and cinnamon, and 
 other objects of the floral and vegetable world. He 
 speaks of horses, of sheep and goats, of hinds and roes, 
 of foxes, lions, and leopards; of the turtle dove, raven, 
 and generally of the singing birds. We can therefore 
 easily imagine the poet, the philosopher, the naturalist, 
 the sovereign, when the winter had well passed, driving 
 forth, before the heat of the sun had risen above the top 
 of Mount Olivet, to enjoy amid the natural beauties of 
 his enclosed garden the sweets of the spring time. 
 
 It is not strange that this awakening of the natural 
 world should have suggested to him the awakening of a 
 soul into a new life ; that the glory which everywhere 
 was outbursting from the soil and swelling in buds and 
 blossoms from trees and vines ; which was dotting the 
 face of hills and the breast of valleys with the lovely 
 forms of flowers ; which was filling the air with the early 
 matins of song birds come back from their winter wan- 
 derings to build again among the branches ; it is not 
 strange that sights and sounds like these should have 
 suggested to such a mind the mighty change which 
 passes over the human soul when it is born again under 
 the power of a living faith and sets forth in the midst of 
 the world the tokens of a new life. 
 
 I do not enter into the discussions which have so long 
 prevailed among Biblical scholars as to the nature and 
 purpose of this composition from which our text is 
 taken. I accept as substantially correct the view which 
 the Church has taken that the inspired author here pur- 
 poses to set before our minds an image of the love which 
 
 *Josephus — "Antiquities," viii. 7, 3. f I. Kings iv. n. 
 
282 Till C( ■: I •/:/- IN X. 1 Tl r RE. 
 
 exists between Christ and his Bride the Church ; that, in 
 tin- picture of the passing of winter and the coming ol 
 spring, there is depicted the sweetness which comes to a 
 soul within the Church when the light of Divine love 
 shines within it; when the Spirit of the loving God has 
 rolled back the bitter season of unbelief, and through 
 the falling teardrops of sorrow for sin struggles the first 
 glint of a renewed nature. It is from this standpoint 
 that 1 ask you to consider our subject to-day while we 
 gather up a few of the lessons which are suggested by 
 the return of spring. 
 
 I. First of all let us notice the Tower which produces 
 this change. It is not of man, but of God. 
 
 It cannot be said, when in the warm days of spring 
 the vegetable world is stirred with its new life, that the 
 sole causes of this change exist within the plants them- 
 selves. Undoubtedly the principle of a new life is with- 
 in the seed. The capacity to be renewed is within the 
 plant, but unless the showers had fallen, the sun had 
 shined, the warm currents of life had flowed through the 
 veins of mother earth, and the soil had contributed her 
 nourishing strength, there would have been no change, 
 no quickening, no new life. So it is with the human 
 soul. Man is salvable. 1 le is capable of being renewed 
 in the image of Jesus Christ. That is to say, the germ 
 of a holy life and a happy future lies within that < 
 tial nature with which he was originally gifted oi l 
 and concerning which the Creator said, "It is very 
 lint those germs lie buried under the ruin of 
 tlie fallen man, and are torpid with the benumbing in- 
 fluences "l sin. In the deforested mountains of I 
 sylvania of chestnut and oak spring up. The 
 
 germs of the chestnuts lie hidden beneath the pine for- 
 of the AUeghenies, but they would lie there un- 
 dev( lop< d i' >rev< r did not the axeman's hand clear away 
 mighty trunks of tin- overshadowing pines ami let 
 d's sunlight, and the free circulating air, and the 
 full rains of heaven. Then up spring the long-buried 
 germs, and chestnut groves wave where once pine forests 
 id. 
 
LESSONS FROM THE SPRING. 2S3 
 
 I am not seeking here to enter upon the question of 
 man's natural depravity, or the extent of that depravity. 
 I am simply asserting, what all theologians must declare, 
 that for the practical purposes of man's salvation the 
 truth lies as here I have put it. Let man's nature be 
 what it may, the possibility of the new life must count 
 as nothing unless the Spirit of God breathe like the 
 winds above it, shine with the light of truth upon it, and 
 descend thereon as showers of blessings. Without these 
 operations of the Divine Spirit the beauty, joy, and fruit- 
 fulness of the new birth can never come to a soul. Its 
 winter shall never be past; its May day can never dawn. 
 Let us emphasize the thought that for this mighty soul- 
 change we must look to God alone. 
 
 Can man produce a spring by artificial appliances? 
 Can he send throughout Nature, by means of furnace- 
 fires or steam-pipes, the thrill of life which bids the 
 kingdom of plants leap into being and beauty? No! 
 Man may make a hot-house, but he cannot cause a 
 spring time. He may cultivate his little beds of flowers 
 and banks of tropical plants within the narrow confines 
 of steam-heated rooms covered with glazed roofs, and 
 give our winter months a taste of artificial greenery; he 
 may force sweet flowers and beautiful flowers from 
 which all fragrance has been cultured, to grow in pots 
 and yield untimely blossoms in the very face of winter 
 snows. But what a small thing is that compared with 
 those mighty and mysterious results which are wrought 
 everywhere around us in the Spring! Who can fill the 
 mountains with the glory of the greening forests? Who 
 can cover the valleys with verdant grasses and dot them 
 with the bright eyes of countless wild flowers ? Who 
 can array innumerable orchards with white blossoms of 
 cherry trees and pink blossoms of peach and apple ? 
 Who can send the currents of vitalizing heat through 
 the hearts of the hills, and push out upon the dogwoods 
 their great white blossoms, sprinkle the meadow with 
 violets and daisies, trail the sweet arbutus along fields 
 and skirts of woods, and fill the air over the sunny 
 slopes with that fragrance of blossoming vines which 
 was so sweet to Solomon in the spring days of Palestine ? 
 
2 $4 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Ah ! who can do this but that Omnipotent Force in 
 Nature whom men call God? Yes, man may make a 
 hot-house, but God alone can make a Spring. 
 
 How true is the metaphor when we pass with it into 
 the spiritual realm! There are no human forces that 
 can cause a change of heart. Civilization, culture, edu- 
 cation, art, science — these may indeed clothe a life with 
 some semblance of outward beaut}-; but if one would 
 penetrate the soul to its utmost depths with regenerative 
 forces; if one would permeate society through all its 
 length and breadth with the power of spiritual life and 
 salvation, he must call upon God, who alone is able to 
 do this for man and for society. Let us then look 
 reverently up to Him as the author of even- good and 
 perfect gift. " It is not by might, nor by power, but by 
 my spirit, saith the Lord." "Which are born not of 
 blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
 man, but of God."* 
 
 II. Second, the great season-change of the year teaches 
 us a lesson of Encouragement and Hope in Labors lor 
 the Spiritual Good of Men. 
 
 How drearily the winter has dragged along ! How of- 
 ten have we wearied as storm has succeeded storm ! Will 
 winter never be over? Oh, this dreary winter, will it 
 never end ? Such have been the queries and exclama- 
 tions falling from many lips. The aged, the invalid and 
 little children, shut up within their homes during the 
 long cold months, have grown so tired and wished so 
 rly for a change! Those who have had vigor to 
 brave the storms have fought the battle with manful and 
 womanly perseverance, yet they too have often tired of 
 the struggle and longed that it might be ended by the 
 coming of the pleasant spring. There are none who feel 
 the pinch of winter so keenly as the poor. 
 
 •• I". »r God i 'iily knows 
 Tis a most bitter l>>t to be poor when it snows." 
 
 There sits the widow in her little room with her or- 
 phaned children, nursing the little fire kindled within her 
 
 * John i. 13. 
 
LESSORS FROM THE SPRIXG. 2S5 
 
 little stove, frugally doling out the little shovelfuls of coal 
 which she has bought in little bucketfuls at a time from 
 the little retail shop around the corner. The wind rattles 
 at the rickety window. The snow drifts through the 
 broken glass. The streets are banked with windrows of 
 soiled snow. The pavements are icy with frozen sleet. 
 Work is scant, wages are low. Winter pinches hard and 
 harder until life becomes well nigh a burden. Ah, we 
 do not wonder that the widow and the orphan and the 
 helpless poor grow weary over our tedious and severe 
 winter, and wonder, Will it ever be over? Will the 
 spring time ever come ? 
 
 Have you never looked out upon fields banked with a 
 snowfall a foot or more in depth, and streams bound fast 
 in fetters of ice, and trees shaking their bare branches in 
 the cutting air, and been conscious of a thought some- 
 what like this: Can it be possible that all these shall 
 change to the verdure and balm of June ? It is indeed 
 a marvelous transformation, and yet as surely as win- 
 ter comes, winter goes. The earth that is hardened like 
 a stone by the frosts that lie far down beneath the sur- 
 face shall be mellowed ; the roots shall be unloosed from 
 the grasp of the Frost King's icy fingers ; the frozen 
 streams shall be unlocked, and their fetters cast loose 
 upon the crest of freshets swollen by melting snows ; 
 fields and forests shall be clad in verdure and made vocal 
 with the hum of life ; the winter shall be over and gone, 
 spring shall come! Always since the earth began it has 
 been so. Always while the world swings on its orbit it 
 shall be so. Summer and winter, seed time and harvest, 
 shall not fail. 
 
 We carry our metaphor into the spiritual realm, and 
 find it here also true that sun and season prevail over all 
 the discouragements, disappointments and obstacles of 
 the spiritual conflict. The human heart is indeed hard, 
 and lives are often blighted by the frosts of sin. The 
 streams of charity and goodness become bound within 
 the human heart in more than icy fetters, and the soul 
 is barren of beauty and fruitfulness as are the meadows, 
 and woods in winter. But over all this dreary landscape 
 there floats the promise of a renewed life. Trust that 
 
286 THE G( )SPEL IN X. \ Tl 'k'E. 
 
 promise rind keep a good heart! The souls around you 
 who seem so impervious to the gentle influences of the 
 Gospel, to the calls of God which you have sounded so 
 often summoning them to a new life, they at last — be- 
 it, O discouraged one ! — shall experience the blessed 
 change from death unto life. Sin is stronger than win- 
 ter, and evil habits are mightier bonds than crysta 
 ice, but God is great God is omnipotent, and He is 
 able even to the uttermost. They who trust Him shall 
 r be confounded, and He has promised to bless His 
 truth to the deliverance of the sinner's soul. 
 
 We need to remember this lesson of the spring in 
 view of the many discouragements that come to us in 
 prosecuting the work of Christ among our fellow-men. 
 We follow our missionaries in their self-denying labors 
 among the nations of heathenism, oftentimes with a dis- 
 couraged and doubtful heart. The winter has reigned 
 so long, superstition and sins of paganism have per- 
 meated society so deeply that one seems to be sowing 
 seeds upon icebergs. How can the warmth of one soul 
 mellow and melt the frigid ignorance of a whole city? 
 What is one among so many? Yet it is our obvious 
 duty to obey the Master's command and push forward 
 the Master's work, believing that the Master himself will 
 give it lodging and growth in I lis own good time. Is he 
 not able to turn the king's heart whithersoever he will? 
 lias he not often in the past touched the secret springs 
 oi national life, and caused a nation to be born at once? 
 Is not Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness, and are 
 not His divine precepts those healing rays which are to 
 prepare humanity for the great salvation? Is not the 
 Holy Spirit the breath of the living God, and is He not 
 able to cause life to spring up even in the bosom of 
 death? Yes, certainly! and while these facts remain, 
 faith and hope may abide. 
 
 The progress of Christianity amongst pagan nations, 
 viewed in single decade-, may not seem very great, but 
 
 as we glance backward along the whole period .since the 
 
 birth of modern missi. »ns, scarcely a century as yet, we ^^ 
 see a marked i hange 1 The full tide of the spiritual sum- 
 mer has not come in, it is true. Nay, we cannot venture 
 
LESSONS FROM THE SPRING. 287 
 
 to hope that even the spring has fully dawned. But 
 over the wastes of paganism we may see here and there 
 greening patches which show that the God of the sea- 
 sons is preparing the way for spring. Here and there 
 flowers are appearing in the earth, and the voice of the 
 singing bird may be heard. The change has begun. 
 Undoubtedly our sight discerns this and so strengthens 
 our faith. The frosts of winter are beginning to yield; 
 the icy grip of paganism begins to relax ; the sun of 
 Christian love is slowly stealing beneath the surface of 
 society, and congealed hearts are yielding to the genial 
 warmth. The change has begun, and as surely as spring, 
 when once its mighty forces have begun to awaken, shall 
 move forward through whatever lapses, oscillations and 
 discouragements, forward to the consummation of balmy 
 May and regal June, so surely shall the nations that have 
 once begun to yield beneath the power of Christ's Gos- 
 pel stay not in their progress until the truth shall prevail. 
 Then shall the handful of corn on the mountains wave 
 like the forests of Lebanon. Then shall the hosts of 
 God on earth and in heaven lift their rejoicing song to 
 the skies, " the winter is past, the flowers appear on the 
 earth, the time of the singing of birds is come! " 
 
 III. A third lesson which we may learn from the 
 Spring is that the Change of a Spiritual Life from Evil 
 to Good is often Gradual in its Nature and Manifestation. 
 
 In our climate at least, it is hard to tell where winter 
 ends and spring begins. Who can tell just when Spring 
 came ? The sun gathered warmth and the earth gathered 
 verdure. There were fitful days of sunshine and storm. 
 The season oscillated through the months of March and 
 early April, and appeared a score of times as though it 
 would swing forward into the balmy days of May, but 
 as the keen winds blew, swung back again, and reminded 
 us that winter was still lingering. At last on the little 
 patches of sward that look toward the south we seemed 
 to see a growing tint of green. One morning we looked 
 again and said to ourselves, " Surely the plots are 
 brightening! They are looking very green to-day!" 
 Then came a balmy day when we could swing the 
 
28S THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 windows wide and let in the first breath of spring to 
 course through chambers and hall and sweep out the 
 lifeless furnace air from the corners and freshen the 
 whole house. That was a day indeed to make our 
 hearts glad, and fill us with hope of what soon should 
 be. Another day we walked down the street and 
 glanced over a railing, and there was a crocus peeping its 
 face above the new grass. An< »ther day when w e h >< >ked 
 there was a dandelion, the bright harbinger of May! 
 Not a fragrant flower, indeed, nor a comely one to the 
 common standard of human taste, but one whose cheer- 
 ful face is filled with laughter and promise, and of all the 
 flowers of our latitude is best worthy to be embalmed as 
 the happy symbol of Nature's resurrection. Hark ! there- 
 is the song' of a bird ! Not the chattering .call of the 
 sparrows whose dusky coats have been familiar on our 
 streets throughout the winter days, but the sweet twitter 
 of a robin, or the whistle of a Vireo. Yes, the migratory 
 birds have come back. They are here to stay — the van- 
 guard of the coming host that by and by shall fill the 
 trees and sing among the branches. It is spring! Spring 
 has come ! When did it come ? We do not know. We 
 cannot mark the daw Winter ha dually shaded 
 
 into Spring that we can only say that we know that 
 Spring lias come because we discern that Spring is here. 
 It is often so with that spiritual change which we call 
 regeneration. It is hard to tell just when the old nature 
 was put off and the new man was put on. Said Jesus, 
 " As the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst 
 not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth, so is 
 every one that is born of the Spirit." Do you ask me 
 what practical uses there can be to such a statement as 
 this? I answer they are very great! For example, 
 there are many Christians who make one of the most 
 serious mistakes of their lives by erring upon this point. 
 They have been long looking for a decided change- 
 where in their spiritual life — a jumping straight out 
 of ungodliness into Christian excellent . B cause they 
 cannot lay their finger upon such a time, nor fix with 
 their thought the very day when and the place where 
 the new birth came to them, they are full of sorrow; 
 
LESSONS FROM THE SPRING. 289 
 
 they doubt their change of heart; they push aside the 
 joy that Jesus lays at their lip, and refuse to join in the 
 chorus with God's saints : " The winter is past, the 
 rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, 
 and the time of the singing of birds is come." 
 
 It is not well to push too closely into the kingdom of 
 God's grace the analogies that are drawn from Nature, but 
 I certainly do think that here at least God works in grace 
 very much as he does in Nature. One need not deny 
 that regeneration is instantaneous. It may indeed be 
 so to the thought and act of God, but I am quite pre- 
 pared to say that usually 'the manifestation of that change 
 to the soul and upon the life is gradual. Why then 
 should you hold yourselves back from the hopes, joys 
 and privileges of Christ's household, because you can- 
 not fix the date and place of your new birth unto God ? 
 
 I recall the case of one dear old lady who during a 
 number of years of my acquaintance gave constant and 
 satisfactory evidence of a sweet and godly trust in her 
 Holy Saviour. If in the household where she dwelt 
 there was any Christian life at all, it was manifest in her. 
 Those who had known her longest said that for many 
 years, indeed, as it afterward proved, from the very days 
 of her childhood, she had been the same loving, Christ- 
 like soul, humble in heart, walking with God and lovely 
 in her conversation which was " fixed in heaven." Yet 
 she would not come to the holy communion because she 
 did not think herself a Christian. She would not solace 
 herself with the hope of Heaven, with the consolation 
 that she was God's child, because she thought this would 
 be unbecoming in one who had no evidence of a change 
 of heart! And w r hy did she have no such evidence? 
 Simply because she had been taught in her early child- 
 hood that regeneration would come to her through some 
 mighty convulsion of soul. There would be a season of 
 tempestuous sorrow for sin, and then, swift as lightning 
 out of the thunder-cloud, would come to her the raptur- 
 ous assurance of salvation, and out of the depths she 
 would mount at once with strong wings to Pisgah 
 heights, and sing with all saints, " Hallelujah to the 
 Lamb !" 
 
290 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl 'RE. 
 
 Have you any such belief or feeling as that? It is 
 just as though you expected Winter to pass into Spring 
 by a single convulsion of nature. One day of moun- 
 tainous clouds, vocal with thunder and fearful with 
 lightning Hashes, followed by the clash and roar of all 
 the elements, and then when the storm had swept by 
 into the distant horizon, lo! the winter is gone! The 
 snows have disappeared! The air is balmy with the 
 breath of Spring! The earth is soft with the life of 
 May. The meadows are green, the forests are filled with 
 buds, the flowers appear, and the birds are singing, sing- 
 ing their sweet songs. There newer was a season-change 
 such as this, my friends ! There are, indeed, difference*;, 
 according to latitude and elevation, as to the degr< 
 gradation in the progress of the coming Spring. To 
 some lands and sections the season-change comes com- 
 paratively swiftly; to others it drags along through 
 weary weeks and months. To-day,* while here on the 
 banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill we are rejoicing 
 beneath the blossoms, the tidings come to us from the 
 forests of Maine and the Adirondack^ of gathering 
 floods from the masses of melting snow still packed be- 
 neath the trees. But in no land or latitude will you ever 
 see a Spring-change such as this which our fancy has 
 painted. One may venture to say that almost as rare as 
 this in the history of redemption are the cases of souls 
 who have passed from death unto life at such a sudden 
 stroke. Some indeed, there have been. Others, there may 
 be; but with the great mass of mankind whose- experience- 
 is recorded in Scripture, and in the annals of the Church, 
 and whose experience is known to us, the change has 
 come .i-- May comes — step by step, pushing away the 
 old and bringing in the new. Ah ! you who have been 
 hesitating so long as to your standing before the 1 
 stop and think of this ! You, too, may be Christ's. You 
 may be Christ's now! The Spring is already upon you. 
 It has stolen in like the sweet May glory which enfolds 
 hills and streams. Why are you yet waiting for her to 
 come? Whydo you fold about you the dry, dead leaves 
 of winter, and sit mourning in the " -ear and yellow 
 
 • May 5th, r 
 
LESSONS FROM THE SPRING. 291 
 
 leaf"? O soul, awake ! Sing! Come and rejoice with 
 us to-day ! Raise these words of the ancient song, " The 
 winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the time of 
 singing birds is come." 
 
 Another class in whose behalf I would urge this truth 
 is young converts. It is a most natural and beautiful 
 step for one to take who turns from a life of unbelief to 
 one of faith. And yet it is a great step, and it brings a 
 soul into relations that are new and difficult. The diffi- 
 culties are made greater by misunderstanding the possi- 
 bilities of spiritual attainment and the obligations which 
 Christ lays upon his children. There is no mistake more 
 common than that he who publicly professes his faith in 
 Christ thereby announces the fact that he has become a per- 
 fect saint. The young Christian finds himself oftentimes 
 discouraged, because when his purpose is strongest to 
 do good, evil is present with him. He goes forth to duty 
 or pleasure in the morning having earnestly vowed to 
 be faithful all that day to his new life and Lord; and 
 that day will, perhaps, be one of humiliation. Before it 
 has well begun he shall have occasion to mourn because 
 of some lapse from the right way, some harsh word spoken, 
 some thought or deed unworthy of his holy name and 
 vocation. Then comes the thought, " I am no Christian 
 at all ! I am discouraged ! I will give up trying to be 
 better ! " That would indeed be a most unchristian con- 
 clusion. One in such estate should not give up, but rather 
 learn that such errors as his are to be expected. 
 
 One does not pass into perfection by a single stride, 
 as he crosses the line from Germany to France, from the 
 United States to Canada or Mexico. He passes as the 
 world comes from winter to spring, from January to May. 
 The progress of sanctification in the soul is gradual. The 
 victory over sin is won by a long series of conflicts in which 
 there are defeats, humiliations, but from and after which 
 there is always an uplifting and regirding of the soul for 
 conflict, and re-entering the lists to do new battle for 
 righteousness and Christ. Make up your mind that to 
 err is human, and that as you are human, you also will 
 probably err. Purpose in your mind to sin as little as 
 possible, but when the time of sinning has overtaken your 
 
292 THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl 'RE. 
 
 soul, do not wonder as though some marvel had occurred, 
 but, confessing your fault, turn with new devotion and 
 vigor to the Christian life. Try to be better to-day than 
 you were yesterday; to be better to-morrow than you 
 are to-day, even a little better, — that will do, — and so day 
 by day growing in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus 
 Christ you shall find your soul gradually clothed upon 
 with the beauty of holiness, and your life daily approach- 
 ing the requirements of the Gospel. 
 
 Be sure of this, that the battle against sin in your heart 
 will never end on earth. Even St. Paul could say : " But 
 I see a different law in my members, warring against the 
 law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under 
 the law of sin which is in my members. Oh! wretched 
 man that I am ! who shall deliver me out of the body 
 of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord."* Yes, through Jesus Christ your Lord, you 
 too, as did St. Paul, shall overcome the law of sin that 
 is within your members; but it will not bean immediate 
 victory. It will be a life-conflict. You shall ripen into 
 the Christian character, and when you become like St. 
 Paul, the aged, you will be able to look back over the 
 past, and with joyful spirit thank God for your sanctified 
 being. Then you too may' say and sing: "I have 
 fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have 
 kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me the 
 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
 Judge, shall give me at that day."f 
 
 In truth, the work of perfecting shall never be ended 
 within the human soul. There is but one absolutelv 
 perfect Being — God alone — who "is eternal and un- 
 changeable, infinite in being, wisdom, power, holi- 
 justice, goodness and truth." If you shall 
 be so happy as to attain immortality with God, 
 there will be before you an eternity .of attainment; 
 there will be an infinity of divine gifts within your 
 reach, and therefore all eternity cannot exhaust the 
 possibilities of your acquisitions. Forever being per- 
 fected, and never being perfect! This is the destiny 
 
 Rom. vii. 23-25. t II. Tim. iv. 
 
LESSOXS FROM THE SPRING. 293 
 
 which awaits you. Were it otherwise, you might con- 
 ceive that even Heaven would grow monotonous. If 
 you could think that after ages and millenniums and 
 aeons of time have rolled away, you should at last have 
 gathered to your expanded souls the whole treasures of 
 heavenly knowledge, love and grace, you might, even 
 with a whole eternity before you, still grow weary. The 
 soul of man is so constituted that progression is neces- 
 sary to happiness, when once the mind has been set for- 
 ward upon the path of attainment. It is a wise saying, 
 founded upon this philosophy of our constitution, 
 
 "A little learning is a dangerous thing — 
 Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. 
 
 Man must drink deep when once he has tasted, and the 
 more he quaffs from the stream of knowledge, the more 
 eagerly does he long for deeper draughts. If he could 
 pause at the fountain-head and feel that the stream is dry, 
 that never more would it flow with fresh supplies for him ; 
 that he had tasted all, that he had drunk every drop, 
 would there not then come to his soul that which would 
 throw a shadow even over heaven, a spirit of dissatis- 
 faction, a longing for something more? But we do not 
 cherish such a fear ; for we know that the new life which 
 begins in regeneration here, flows on endlessly in the 
 hereafter. Progression is endless because God is infinite, 
 and the stores of knowledge which He has at command 
 can never be exhausted by the souls of angels and men. 
 I once stood in a cemetery laid out just above the 
 town of Huntingdon, Pa., and looked around upon a 
 beautiful mountain scene. The history of civilization in 
 its various stages westward lay within the compass of 
 my vision. " There," said my friend and guide, " is the 
 old Indian trail by which the red men threaded these 
 forests. Yonder is the bridle path by which the first 
 pioneers crossed towards the fertile fields of the west. 
 Yonder is the old road, wagon road, stage route, State 
 road over which the traffic of forty years ago rolled in 
 Conestoga wagons from Pittsburg to the sea. There is 
 the canal that succeeded the Conestogas in carrying 
 Philadelphia's freights to the foot of the Alleghenies; 
 
294 THE GOSPEL IN X. 1 Tl 'RE. 
 
 and there is the track of the Pennsylvania Railroad with 
 its scores of trains daily steaming to and fro bearing 
 men and material from all ends of the world to all ends." 
 A story of progress was outlined there as in a map — 
 progress through conflict and cost, rising always toward 
 something better. 
 
 We turned from this lovely and significant scene to 
 read an inscription upon a neighboring grave-stone. 
 The name carved thereon was that of an officer who fell 
 during the civil war in defense of the Republic. The 
 inscription contained these words : " His bod}' lies in 
 an unknown grave on the battle-field, but that God who 
 gave him courage to die for his country will watch over 
 it until reanimated by his noble spirit on that day when 
 earth and sea shall give up their dead!" 
 
 Sweet hope ! Death does not end man's progress in 
 life and life's acquisitions. The old form of life ends, 
 but the spirit survives and takes on a new semblance. 
 The grave only closes the first stage of man's develop- 
 ment; the trail through life's dark forest opens upon a 
 wide road in the Eternity, and that in turn shall open 
 into a wider, and with swifter growth and change as the 
 ages go, man shall leave behind him the past and enter 
 upon higher stages of progress. This is indeed an in- 
 spiring hope ! Would that you all might receive it with 
 unfaltering trust. Ah ! the winter of Death would then 
 cease to have dread for you, for you should know that 
 there follows close upon it a celestial Spring that shall 
 move forward into the perfect Summer with that fruit- 
 age whose seeds of blessedness are eternal within them- 
 selves. 
 
 When even at last the solemn hour shall come, 
 
 And wing my mystic Bight to future worlds, 
 
 I i heerful will obey; there, with newpowers, 
 
 Will rising wonders sing : 1 cannot go 
 
 When- Universal Love not smiles around. 
 
 Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their suns ; 
 
 From seeming evil still educing good, 
 
 And better them e again, and better still. 
 
 In infinite progression. But I lose 
 
 M\ self in ! Iim. in Light ineffable ! 
 
 Come, then, expressive Silence, muse His praise.* 
 
 * Jami-s Thomsi in — "A 1 [ymn i »n the Seasons.*' 
 
LECTURE XVI. 
 
 The Birth of the Flowers. 
 
 "The floivers appear on the earth." — Song of 
 Solomon ii. 12. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE FLOWERS. 
 
 What beauty one sees covering the earth in mid- 
 May! The tender leaves, so far as the trees have put 
 them forth, have all the freshness of Easter clothes. The 
 meadows and lawn wear their brightest livery of eme- 
 rald sward. The yellow, white and blue flowers spread 
 their brillianjt hues over all the landscape, and as they 
 are the first show of the springtide their beauty has not 
 palled upon our senses, and we welcome them with a 
 thrill of pleasure. 
 
 The yellow flowers are not numerous, but there are 
 some. The Buttercups nod in rich profusion. The Dan- 
 delion still lingers, although its sunny face, fresh with 
 the icy breath of March, has been cheering us for weeks. 
 Just now its stalks are tipped with those graceful globes 
 which at one's touch dissolve into a score of seeds, every 
 one tufted with a cluster of downy ciliae that float it off 
 upon the breeze over the meadow. A lovely English 
 lady said to me, " I wonder that you Americans love the 
 dandelion. We think it a rather nasty plant." Ah, but 
 I do not wonder. Its flower glows with the first breath 
 of spring; its seeds are veritable fairies in gracefulness, 
 and its quaint notched leaves, that warrant its name of 
 lion-tooth {dent de lion), mark it at once as noted among 
 the common plants. 
 
 White flowers are more plentiful. The dog-eared 
 petals of the Cornus (Dogwood) fairly cover the low 
 tree, and show afar off through the woods like a white 
 banner of ancient France. The Horse-chestnut, emblem 
 of our "Buckeye State,"* lifts erect above its broad 
 leaves tall clustered cones, that reminds one of the 
 white pompon on a soldier's hat. The Locust trees 
 have begun to show their pendent bunches of fragrant 
 blossoms. There, too, is the Snowball bush, well de- 
 serving its name, for one might fancy a boy's fistful of 
 
 * The JEscidus glabra is Ohio's plant emblem. 
 
 (297) 
 
298 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 snowballs had been stuck upon every twig. The Spiraea 
 holds up branches flecked with woolly bloom. The 
 Hawthorn's milk-white clusters "scent the evening 
 gale." The Daisies are not yet plentiful, but you will 
 find them with their star-white rays issuing from their 
 hearts of gold; not the "wee modest crimson-tipped 
 flower," of Burns' exquisite poem, but our own bold 
 beauty who loves the sun and society. The wild Straw- 
 berry nestles close to the bosom of mother earth, with 
 its delicate odor and dainty bloom. The creamy flower 
 of the May Apple (Podophyllum) hangs on its wax-like 
 stem beneath its broad leaves. 
 
 The blue flowers with their many shades of purple, 
 lavender, violet, are in their glory. The Flag waves 
 her banner at the edge of pond and brook, reminding 
 us that the flowers appear on the water as well as on 
 the earth. The Judas tree, with its pinkish blossoms, 
 shows bright in the leafless clumps of shrubbery. The 
 Polonia has put forth its huge clusters of heavy-scented 
 cup-shaped blossoms, a strange sight indeed, a great 
 forest tree decked from top to lowest bough with purple 
 flowers. Yet the stately trunks of the grenadier Tulip 
 Poplar will soon bear up even a nobler bloom. 
 
 Then there is the Lilac', sweet, old-fashioned flower, 
 that loves the precinct of home, and rears its lavender 
 blooms above its heart-shaped leaves, filling the air with 
 a fragrance that calls up childhood's days. Shall we for- 
 get the Violet, the sweet social flower, whose beds and 
 banks furnish exhaustless nosegays for the children's 
 pink' fingers? We must name at least one more, the 
 majestic Wisteria (or shall we say Wistaria?), the queen 
 of flowering vines, embowering the porch, draping the 
 windows, swinging from the very eaves of the roof, 
 hanging thick with purple bunches as big as grapes of 
 Eshcol. It is a rare sight; worth crossing an ocean to 
 see, as it grows here in our West Philadelphia, decked 
 in its May glory! 
 
 Such a scene as this, even more brilliant with the 
 lovely jewels of the field, must Solomon have witnessed 
 when spring opened upon the valleys and hill-slopes of 
 his native land. Flowers grow in great variety and 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE FLOWERS. 299 
 
 abundance in Palestine, and from the month of January 
 to May the groves and meadows are adorned with the 
 blossoms of many different species of wild plants. 
 There one finds the flora of the tropics, and there the 
 sweeter familiar plants of our own temperate zones. 
 Some of those flowers that appeared on the earth to 
 Israel's king, and were marked by the eye of Him whose 
 glory exceeded that of Solomon, are among the well- 
 loved familiars of our own gardens. There were the 
 anemone, crocus, tulip, hyacinth, wind-flower, narcissus, 
 lily, violet, aster, pink, iris, daffodil, crow-foot, dragon 
 wort, periwinkle, veronica, white clover, hollyhock, and 
 a multitude of others which one need not stop to name, 
 but which perfume the air to-day as in the days of the 
 patriarchs and prophets, and give lovely prospect to the 
 landscape.* 
 
 I. We learn first the Constancy of Divine Power in 
 protecting and preserving the Beautiful and Good. 
 
 " The flowers appear on the earth." There is some- 
 thing inexpressibly touching in the thought that through 
 the ages of the past, summer and winter have come and 
 gone, and inevitably with the bursting forth of Spring 
 have come back to us the old familiar faces of the sweet 
 plants that our childhood knew. It was a part of the 
 divine constitution of things, as we read in the book of 
 Genesis, that the earth should bring forth grass, the herb 
 yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his 
 kind, whose seed is in itself, f This primal law of plant 
 life has never been broken. No one knows how long 
 flowers have been appearing upon the earth in succes- 
 sive returns of the seasons, but we do know that as often 
 as they may have come back, they came the same as 
 when they left. Spring found them where Winter laid 
 them. The sweet fancy of the poet is approved as a 
 veritable fact in the clear light of science : — 
 
 But cheerful and unchanged the while 
 Your first and perfect form ye show, 
 
 The same that won Eve's matron smile 
 In the world's opening glow. % 
 
 * McClintock & Strong — "Flowers." fGen.i. ir. |Keble. 
 
300 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 This is true within the historic period. The whole 
 world of Sunday-school teachers and scholars is now* 
 passing through a series of lessons which present to us 
 the life of the Pharaohs of Egypt and their oppressed 
 bondsmen, the Hebrews. We have been deeply inter- 
 ested in that triumph of modern archaeology and photo- 
 graphic science which presents to us the figures of the 
 mummies of Seti I. and Rameses II., the Pharaohs dur- 
 ing whose sovereignty the hapless babes of the Jews 
 were murdered, and the infant Moses was born and reared 
 to manhood. But there is a fact incidental to the dis- 
 covery of these and other mummies with which few of 
 the public are acquainted, they have afforded botanists 
 an opportunity to compare the plant life of the Mosaic 
 period with the plant life of this day. Within the 
 mummy-wrappings have been found no less than fifty- 
 nine species. f Some of these are represented by the 
 fruits employed as offerings to the dead, others by the 
 flowers and leaves made into garlands, and the remainder 
 by the branches on which the body was laid out during 
 or after embalmment, and which were enclosed with the 
 offerings within the linen wrappings that enveloped the 
 mummy. These plant remains were hermetically sealed 
 within the wrappings, and thus, according to Mr. William 
 -Carruthers of the British Museum, have been preserved 
 with scarcely any change.J By placing the plants in warm 
 water a series of specimens was obtained which, although 
 gathered four thousand years ago, are as satisfactory for 
 the purposes of science as any collected at the present 
 day. These specimens consequently supply means for the 
 closest examination and comparison with their living rep- 
 resentatives. The colors of the flowers are still present, 
 even the most evanescent, such as the violet of the lark- 
 spur and knap-weed and the scarlet of the poppy. The 
 chlorophyl remains in the leaves, and the sugar in the 
 pulp of the raisins. It is difficult, says Mr. Carruthers, 
 without actual inspection of the specimens of plants 
 
 May, 1887. t Determined bv Dr. Schweinfurth. t Address to 
 the Biological Section of the British Association, Birmingham, 
 [886, by William Carruthers, President of the Section, Pres. Lin- 
 naean Society, &c. 
 
THE BIR TH OF THE EL O II ERS. 30 1 
 
 employed as garlands, to realize the wonderful condition 
 of preservation in which they are. These specimens con- 
 sequently supply means for the closest examination and 
 comparison with their living representatives. Thus ex- 
 amined and compared, their absolute identity with the 
 present indigenous forms of the species represented is 
 demonstrated in the clearest manner. With scarce an 
 exception the most learned botanists have not been able 
 to detect any peculiarity in the living plants which is 
 absent in those obtained from the tombs. Thus through 
 four thousand years, since Seti I. decreed the slaughter 
 of the Hebrew babes, and the daughter of Pharaoh, 
 Thermuthis, preserved the infant Moses from the waters 
 of the Nile, these flowers and vines, trees and plants of 
 Egypt have fallen with every winter's decay, and at the 
 coniing of Spring have appeared on the earth again 
 bearing the same form, features and color that they 
 carried to their season-sleep. 
 
 Nor is this all. The hand of geology has turned over - 
 the pages of Natural History far back of the period of 
 Seti, Rameses and Moses, so far back that one may 
 scarcely venture to estimate the age. Reading from these 
 uncovered pages the paleo-botanist declares that Since 
 the glacial epoch at least, say a quarter-million years, no 
 appreciable change has taken place. It is still an estab- 
 lished axiom with botanists that "species must be dealt 
 with as fixed quantities." * In our own country we are 
 enabled to read the story of plant life from a period of 
 the Tertiary as far back at least as the Oligocene. Le- 
 quereux identifies as among the plants found in the 
 fossil-yielding strata, hickories, oaks, birches, poplars, 
 willows, elms, cedars, wild roses, sumac, alders, ferns, 
 catalpa and bignonia. These grew in the woods of that 
 ancient period precisely as they do in our own forests; 
 and in the lagoons and ponds of the Tertiary the blooms 
 of water lilies and the blossoms of grasses, reeds and 
 iris showed precisely as they do to-day in the ponds of 
 New Jersey and the lagoons of the South.f Thus the 
 
 * Carruthers. t Lequereux— ' ' U. S. Geological Survey of the 
 Territories, Vol. VII., 1878 ; Tertian' Flora." See for illustrations 
 the Coal Flora Atlas of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsyl- 
 
302 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 law impressed by the Creator's hand upon plant life, to 
 " bring forth seed after its kind," is proved to have been 
 in all these years in active operation. The plants and 
 flowers have appeared and disappeared with the season- 
 changes, while the ages have come and gone. There is 
 an obvious bearing of these facts upon the theory of 
 evolution, but we are now looking to them for illustra- 
 tions of spiritual truths. 
 
 What lesson do they suggest ? Surely we will not 
 forget that the Lord himself has compared the holy in- 
 fluences of the gospel to the seed which is cast into the 
 ground. He who scatters that seed may be assured that 
 the hand of God will care for his influence and works 
 throughout all ages. Good deeds are the flowers of 
 human life. The law of heredity is operative upon 
 them also. Seasons shall come and go, the years shall 
 wax and wane, centuries and generations shall pass, but 
 the good that men have done shall spring Up anew with 
 the new-coming lives of the new ages, and shall perpe- 
 tuate for good man's work in this world, aye, and in the 
 next. The power of an endless life is in every honest 
 effort for good. This is an immortality which all may 
 covet, — the immortality of holy living and useful deeds. 
 With what hope and joy should we commit our labors, 
 wrought in love and fear of God, to the keeping of the 
 future, knowing that He who " is the same yesterday, 
 to-day and forever," will see to it that the holy seed 
 shall never cease to find a lodgment and growth among 
 the children of the earth. The frosts of winter, the fret 
 of time, the storms, floods and convulsions of earth, — 
 all social changes and all assaults of Satan shall vainly 
 seek to quench this influence from the world. For a 
 little while indeed adverse forces may seem to succeed; 
 for a little while winter may hide away the seeds, may 
 cut down the stalks to the very bulb or root; but God's 
 hands shall wheel on the course of time, and when the 
 ages shall have ripened, the old Song of Solomon shall 
 be heard again upon the air of spring; " The winter is 
 past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the 
 earth!" "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the 
 evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE FLOWERS. 303 
 
 which shall prosper, whether this or that."* "In due 
 season ye shall reap if ye faint not."f 
 
 "Sow thy seed." Yes, remember that it is seed that 
 you are sowing, and that it is the seed which contains 
 the principle of life, by virtue of which the flowers ap- 
 pear on the earth. Diamonds are beautiful, certainly. 
 Diamonds are valuable, certainly; but, Christian friends, 
 we sow seeds — not diamonds — that which is to grow and 
 bear fruit it may be an hundred fold. The glitter and 
 polish of rhetoric may not be out of place in pulpit and 
 Sunday-school, but he who comes to these spots where 
 furrows of virgin soil await the sower, with no seed, 
 fails utterly. A jeweled hand may scatter seeds. But a 
 hand that scatters jewels without the seeds has no place 
 in the Lord's vineyard. 
 
 II. Nor let it be forgotten that there are other seeds 
 scattered through this world of ours than seeds of holi- 
 ness and faith. Evil as well as good is a constant quan-' 
 tity. 
 
 Our blessed Saviour has taught us how the enemy 
 comes while we sleep, and sows "tares" among the 
 "wheat."| As ^ ar back as the thought of science can 
 go upon the sure roadway of observation, it declares it 
 to be true that the tares and goodly grain have sprung 
 up and grown together. The same weeds that trouble 
 tillers of the soil in Egypt to-day were the pests of their 
 ancestors in those old times of which we have been 
 speaking, forty and fifty centuries ago. Grains of barley 
 and wheat are of frequent occurrence in the tombs. M. 
 Mariette found barley in a grave of the fifth dynasty, at 
 Sakhara, five thousand four hundred years old. The 
 fields of barley then were infested by a weed known as 
 the Spiny Medick.§ Another of the Egyptian tares found 
 among the mummies is the Charlock, || better known 
 among us as the wild mustard. It infests the flax crop, 
 and there is scarce a field in Egypt where it may not be 
 found to-day, and often in such quantity that its yellow 
 
 '*Eccl. xi. 6. fGal. vi. 9. % Matt. xiii. 25. \ Medicago denticu- 
 lata. || Sinapis arvensis, var. allionii. 
 
304 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 flowers, just before the flax comes into bloom, present 
 the appearance of a crop of mustard.*. Thus the vigor of 
 evil, tested by its endurance, is quite equal to that of 
 the good. 
 
 That vigor is also seen in the power of weeds to dis- 
 seminate themselves with great rapidity under adverse 
 circumstances. Sir Joseph Hooker found the familiar 
 English weed known as Shepherd's Purse, itself a colo- 
 nist from Central Asia, growing abundantly on a solita- 
 ry Antarctic islet. f Wondering greatly how it could 
 have gotten there, he traced it finally to the grave of a 
 sailor, around which the intrusive little plant flourished 
 luxuriously, and from which, as a centre, it had evi- 
 dently distributed itself over the island. How came the 
 plant within the soil of that English sailor's grave ? The 
 spade with which the grave was dug had been used to 
 dig in English soil, and a single seed of Shepherd's 
 Purse, clinging to particles of earth upon' the spade, 
 dropped off and mingled with the Antarctic soil of that 
 burial mound, and grew and spread until the all-encom- 
 passing sea checked its career of conquest. 
 
 It is not a pleasant reflection for us that evil influen- 
 ces, like these tares of ancient Egypt and the weeds that 
 grow among our garden plants, have staying qualities 
 quite as vigorous as those of lovely flowers and use- 
 ful plants. But it is a wholesome thought, and one 
 which never should drop away from our minds; for it 
 points to a fact which we are daily called upon to face, 
 and upon which, in all our efforts to overcome evil in 
 our own hearts and subdue sin in the world, we should 
 calculate with unfailing accuracy. The evil and the 
 good, the tares and the wheat, the flowers and the weeds 
 shall grow together until the day of judgment. So our 
 Saviour teaches, and it will not do for us to forget the 
 teaching lest we relax our vigilance in watching and our 
 diligence in laboring to preserve the world from the in- 
 coming and growth of those hurtful principles which 
 thwart all holy effort, and must surely destroy those over 
 whom they obtain the power. 
 
 *Carruthers — " Address to Biological Section Brit Assri." 
 
 f Grant Allen — "Collin Clout's Callendar," page 12. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE FLOWERS. 305 
 
 III. We have thus far been drawing comfort and in- 
 struction from the fact that God shall preserve our influ- 
 ence and works. Let us remember that this includes 
 the Source of Work and Influence — Ourselves. 
 
 One of th# most familiar of the lessons which Jesus 
 taught the world is the duty of absolute trust in God as 
 drawn from the flowers. " Consider the lilies," He said, 
 " how they grow : they toil not, neither do they spin ; 
 yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was 
 not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe 
 the grass in the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is 
 cast into the oven ; how much more shall he clothe you, 
 O ye of little faith ? * * * Fear not, little flock ; 
 for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
 kingdom."* 
 
 One day the well-known missionary Fidelia Fisk was 
 instructing a class of pagan women. She was compelled 
 by the customs of the country to occupy a sitting posture 
 on the floor without that support of body and back so- 
 grateful to women afforded by our comfortable chairs. 
 A heathen convert present, noticing that her teacher was 
 greatly fatigued by the day's, hard work, left the circle of 
 hearers and sat down behind her, placing her back to 
 Miss Fisk's back. The missionary lady recognized the 
 kindness and timeliness of the act, and leaned gently 
 against her dusky friend ; but this did not satisfy. 
 
 " No ! No ! " said the convert, " if you love me, lean 
 hard, lean hard." 
 
 I think I can hear the voice as of our Heavenly Re- 
 deemer saying to every weak and weary soul, timid, 
 doubting, fearful, and longing, " if you love Me, lean 
 hard." " Cast thy burden on the Lord." Cast thyself on 
 the Lord. Do not fear to rest thyself fully upon Him ! 
 
 He will comfort and keep thee, 
 He will carry thee through. 
 
 This lesson of untroubled trust in God every opened 
 flower of Spring teaches human hearts. If God lavishes 
 such ceaseless wealth of care upon a flower, what may He 
 not, what will He not do for His own immortal children ? 
 
 * Luke xii. 27-33. 
 
306 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Sweet nurslings of the vernal skies, 
 Bathed in soft airs, and fed with dew, 
 
 What more than magic in you lie's, 
 To (ill the heart's fond view? 
 
 In childhood's sports, companions gay, 
 
 In sorrow, on Life's downward way, 
 
 How soothing ! in our last decay 
 
 Memorials prompt and true. 
 ***** * 
 
 Ye felt your Maker's smile that hour, 
 As when lie paused and owned you good ; 
 
 I lis blessing on earth's primal bower, 
 Ye felt it all renewed. 
 
 What care ye now, if winter's storm 
 
 Sweep ruthless o'er each silken form ? 
 
 Christ's blessing at your heart is warm, 
 Ye fear no vexing mood. 
 
 Alas ! of thousand bosoms kind, 
 
 That daily court you and caress, 
 • How few the happy secret find 
 
 Of your calm loveliness ! 
 Live for to-day ! to-morrow's light 
 Tomorrow's care shall bring to sight, 
 Go sleep like closing flowers at night, 
 
 And Heaven thy morn will bless.* 
 
 Consider the lilies, how tJicy grow / We have consid- 
 ered, and have learned that back in those far ages of the 
 Tertiary, the lilies were growing in ponds and lagoons 
 just as they do now ; that therefore their life and the 
 lives of their companion flowers of fields, forests and 
 waters have been held here countless ages in perpetual 
 life by the hand of God. Frail, perishing things of a 
 day! Yet thus has God carried their life unquenched 
 amidst the convulsions of ages and birth-throes of con- 
 tinents. He promises thus to carry you, O soul of 
 man! Surely he will fulfill his promise. Trust Him, 
 trust Him implicitly! Trust Him and doubt not, but 
 keep with you through life and to the very portals of 
 opening eternity the joyful confidence that He will hold 
 your soul securely and perpetuate it with the immortal- 
 it}' of the blessed in the gardens of your God. The 
 flower of our mortal form shall indeed decay, btit the 
 life of the spirit runs on with an immortality far outlast- 
 ing that of forest growth or garden bloom. God has 
 
 *Keblk— "The Christian Year." 15th Sunday after Trinity. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE FLOWERS. 307 
 
 guaranteed this, and His word shall be made good. 
 " The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of 
 our God shall stand forever."* 
 
 I was driving once along the margin of a flooded 
 stream and was stopped at a point where the road for 
 many rods was overflowed. " Can we go on?" I asked 
 of a neighbor. "Yes, drive forward, it is not deep. The 
 road is safe !" And though no road was in sight, noth- 
 ing but the broad expanse of turgid water, I drove on 
 and reached the other side in safety. A good lesson, 
 I said ; and bethought me of Whittier's lines, 
 
 Nothing before, nothing behind ; 
 
 The steps of Faith 
 Fall on the seeming void, and find 
 
 The rock beneath.! 
 
 Thus is it often in the affairs of this life. Thus is it 
 always when our footsteps draw near the brink of that 
 river of death which divides between us and the shore 
 of the Heavenly Canaan. Pathless, dark, intangible, 
 shoreless seems the stream, and the waters cold as win- 
 ter ; but the Rock of Ages bridges the way, and beyond 
 the Flowers appear ! 
 
 * Isa. xi. 8. f " My Soul and I. ' ' 
 
LECTURE XVII. 
 
 Beautiful Flowers and 
 Tender Grapes. 
 
 "Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower." 
 Isaiah xxviii. i. 
 
 "The flowers appear on the earth; 
 
 ***** 
 The jig tree ripeneth her green figs, 
 And the vines are in blossom, 
 They give forth their fragrance. ' ' 
 
 Song of Solomon ii. 12, 13. 
 
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND TENDER 
 GRAPES. 
 
 Flowers have always been associated in the human 
 mind with beauty. They are emblems and expressions 
 of a sense of the beautiful, not only in man, but in the 
 universe. We have an apt illustration of this in our 
 Saviour's remark concerning the lilies of the field, "that 
 even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 
 of these." * He who looks upon Nature with a careful 
 eye, and observes such constant regard to that harmony 
 and arrangement of form, color and function which re- 
 sults in what we call beauty, is compelled to find some 
 reason for this effect. Jesus, in the passage just quoted, 
 plainly asserts that the beautiful clothing of the flowers 
 is wrought by God, and clearly implies that this beauty 
 " which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven," 
 has some cause higher than can be explained by their 
 limited life and ephemeral destiny. 
 
 Mr. Darwin, and many others following him, have 
 been able to trace some relation between beauty and 
 utility. They have attempted to show that the beauty 
 of animals and plants performs a very important part in 
 securing protection to the individual or propagation of 
 the species, and that it has probably been developed 
 through such usefulness. We need not scruple to allow 
 at least a modicum of truth within these speculations. 
 But there must always remain the conclusion that the 
 fact of beauty in the creature implies a sense of beauty 
 in the creative Force; and further, the sense of beauty 
 implies a Personal Force, a Mind, as the source of such 
 sentiment. It is foreign to our present purpose to con- 
 sider the argument for the being and personality of God 
 which is readily deducible, along this line of reasoning, 
 from the beautiful flowers and all other lovely things in 
 
 * Matt. vi. 29. 
 
 (311) 
 
3 1 2 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 this world of ours. We must be content simply to pre- 
 sent the thought, and express the conviction that beauty 
 in flowers or elsewhere is an inevitable expression of the 
 character of the Creator, reflecting that Taste which 
 dwells in infinite perfection within the Divine ; and 
 moreover, that apart from all bare utility, it has a higher 
 purpose within itself, namely, to contribute to the happi- 
 ness and holiness of men. 
 
 God might have bade the earth bring forth 
 
 Enough for gre;it and small, 
 The oak. tree and the cedar tree, 
 
 Without a flower at all. 
 We might have had enough, enough, 
 
 For every want of ours, 
 For luxury, medicine, and toil, 
 
 And yet have had no flowers. 
 
 Then wherefore, wherefore were they made, 
 
 All dyed with rainbow-light, 
 All fashioned with supremest grace, 
 
 Upspringing day and night : — 
 Springing in valleys green and low, 
 
 And on the mountains high, 
 And in the silent wilderness 
 
 Where no man passes by ? 
 
 Our outward life requires them not, — 
 
 Then wherefore had they birth ? — 
 To minister delight to man, 
 
 To beautify the earth.* 
 
 I. The first lesson which invites your attention is that 
 the spirit of Christianity compels Alliance between all 
 Physical and Moral Beauty. 
 
 Of the two splendid columns that stood at the gate- 
 way of Solomon's temple named Jachin and Boaz it is 
 written that on the tops of the pillars was lily-work. f 
 This was the objective presentation of a fact elsewhere 
 declared that " Strength and beauty are in his sanctu- 
 ary." J And again, "Out of Zion, the perfection of 
 beauty, God hath shined."§ The beauty and strength 
 of the Church has always been and ever must be its ho- 
 liness. The familiar phrase "the beauty of holiness " 
 
 Mary Howitt— "The Use of Flowers." fl. Kings vii. 22. 
 X Ps. xcvi. 6. \ Ps. 1. 2. 
 
BEA UTIFUL FL O WERS AND TENDER GRAPES. 3 1 3 
 
 well expresses this conviction as it has dwelt in the heart 
 of the Catholic Church. 
 
 There is profound need in this age that these ideas 
 should be kept closely associated. Every one who has 
 followed the trend of some of the leading minds and 
 philosophic speculations of our time must have seen how 
 strong is the tendency to a wide breach between the two. 
 Beauty, say these thinkers, is a matter by itself; holiness 
 or personal purity or morals have no necessary connec- 
 tion therewith. 
 
 There is a strain in modern thought as foul as any in 
 ancient Athens, Pompeii or Rome. Men conceal it from 
 view or smother it under the name " ^Estheticism." By 
 whatever name, its odor is quite as ill. Modern aesthet- 
 icism may be described as demanding from art, litera- 
 ture, architecture only a perfect form without regard to 
 the inner life of the heart, — its spiritual purpose and 
 thought. It declares that no matter how false and un- 
 clean may be the thought of the poem or painting if it 
 be only artistically perfect, and true to nature, it has ful- 
 filled its destiny. It exalts beauty of mode irrespective 
 of morals. It makes the beauty of form perfect and 
 chief, and the beauty of holiness it belittles or denies. I 
 do not say that this is all of modern aestheticism, but it 
 is much of it, and the evil is more widely spread and 
 deeply rooted than you suppose. Shall it prevail ? 
 Not if the Church and the world will bend a serious 
 ear to the heavenly message. The whole thinking of 
 Christianity has in the past gained victories most con- 
 spicuous. In the future it shall not deceive our hopes. 
 It triumphed over the art and architecture of pagan- 
 ism. 
 
 I say nothing of the positively immoral, but speak of 
 the negative features thereof. The sculpture of Rome 
 and Greece was a glorification and expression of form, 
 the utterance of mere beauty of the body, female loveli- 
 ness, manly strength. The Venus de Medici, Apollo 
 Belvidere, and the Dying Gladiator are the best ex- 
 amples of pagan art. And what is the underlying pur- 
 pose of Christian art? Americans cross the ocean in 
 multitudes to behold the gothic temples of Europe. 
 
314 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 They gaze upon carvings in stone, paintings upon glass, 
 creations of the brush that adorn church walls, and see 
 everywhere the ideas of true Holiness which were 
 brought by the Gospel of Christ into the world. The 
 lives of the apostles, prophets, and holy martyrs are cel- 
 ebrated therein, and above all, the life of Christ Himself. 
 It is man that is glorified, but not physical man, — it is man 
 the spiritual being, who by attainments in holy living and 
 by service of humanity rises above the attractions of the 
 world, the temptations of avarice and ambition, the lusts 
 of the flesh. Thus art in painting and in its sublimest 
 forms, architecture and sculpture, speaks throughout 
 Christendom of the glory of the New Life, the exalted 
 thoughts of Jesus, the blessedness which He brought 
 to man. There are excrescences upon this art, survi- 
 vals of paganism, monstrosities that belonged to the ig- 
 norance and superstitions of the times, but the ideas are 
 there, and they are worthy, grand, soul-uplifting, man- 
 transforming, Christ-honoring. Holiness dominated the 
 thinking of men and triumphed over mere sensualism, 
 however accurately expressed. Thus the aestheticism of 
 ancient paganism yielded before Christian thought as it 
 was expressed in art. May it ever be so ! 
 
 Let me quote here for its close bearing upon our sub- 
 ject from the last words publicly uttered by the late Sid- 
 ney Lanier. " Wherever there is contest, as between ar- 
 tistic and moral beauty, unless the moral side prevail, 
 all is lost. Let any sculptor hew us out the most rav- 
 ishing combination of tender curves and spheric softness 
 that ever stood for woman, yet if the lip have a certain 
 fullness that hints of the flesh, if the brow be insincere, 
 if, in the minutest particular, the physical beauty sug- 
 gest a moral ugliness, that sculptor, unless he be por- 
 traying moral ugliness for a moral purpose, may as well 
 give over his marble for paving stones. Time, whose 
 judgments are inexorably moral, will not accept this 
 work. For, indeed, we may say that he who has not 
 yet perceived how artistic beauty and moral beauty are 
 convergent lines, which run back into a common ideal 
 origin, and who, therefore, is not afire with moral beauty 
 just as with artistic beauty ; that he, in short, who has 
 
BE A UTIFUL FLO WERS AND TENDER GRAPES. 3 1 5 
 
 not come to that stage of quiet and eternal frenzy in 
 which the beauty of holiness and the holiness of beauty 
 mean one thing, burn as one fire, shine as one light, 
 within him is not yet the great Artist."* 
 
 In reply to the saying that art is the work of man, 
 Nature the work of God, Hegel says that God reveals 
 Himself in man, and therefore the best of man's works 
 are the best of God's. This is true. The holy life, the 
 sublime strength, the patient endurance, when they are 
 objects for the subjective appreciation, do show the pos- 
 sibilities of God rather than nature. Art does not reach 
 this height, and mere genius cannot realize these in art 
 with perfect understanding and self-consistency. No 
 mere artistic work could draw such a character as Jesus 
 Christ, and there is more in the saint than in any picture 
 of him in colors or words. f 
 
 It was the concrete exhibition of ideal human loveli- 
 ness in Jesus Christ which gave men a deeper sense of 
 sin, taught them their imperfections and the conditions 
 lor their ultimate well-being, which clarified and cor- 
 rected their conception of the highest, which caused the 
 new ideal of their own possible advancement to shine 
 gloriously out of the mists, and gave them an undoubt- 
 ing assurance that the ultimate hope of human thought 
 had been reached, and the riddle of existence solved. 
 
 II. There is another point which may be considered 
 in this connection. We have been thinking that the 
 graces of life represented by the flowers are developed 
 by the spirit of our holy religion. Is it in contradiction 
 of this that we see so many Graces in the Lives of 
 Heathen ? 
 
 1. We admit the fact. No child of God should have 
 a disposition to derogate from, but rather exalt and ap- 
 plaud all that is good among the pagan nations, and 
 thank God that so much of the original bloom has sur- 
 vived the frosts of sin. We must allow that Confucius, 
 Buddha, Zoroaster and Mohammed may bring forth and 
 
 * Lecture delivered before John Hopkins University in April, 
 1881. t Hegel's "^Esthetics." By Professor Kedney. Page 51. 
 
316 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 rve upon the life of their disciples the graces of 
 artificial culture; but only Christ Jesus can cover the 
 world with the flowers of a spiritual springtide. Hot- 
 house flowers are comely, but their loveliness is in spite 
 of their surroundings, not because of them. Surely, the 
 systems out of which the natural graces of non-Christian 
 nations have grown are not suited to develop graces in 
 the whole race. What we see in China or India is not the 
 bloom of the earth under a spring sun, but simply a 
 conservatory bloom. Like the flowers and buds which 
 the florist fastens upon wire .stems in building his floral 
 emblems and bouquets, the graces of philosophy and 
 natural religion have no vital stalk to rest upon. But 
 Christianity brings blossoms whose stems are united to 
 a living Vine, to the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the 
 Valley ; these have in them the power of an endless life ; 
 transplanted to another sphere, the garden of. God, they 
 will root and grow and bloom forever. 
 
 2. This seeming contradiction may be observed in 
 Christian communities. There are some unregenerate 
 people who have very many graces. Some ungodly 
 men are delightful companions. They have natures 
 rich in attributes which exalt humanity, and manners 
 that adorn their behavior as flowers do the garden. But 
 we must iv>t forget that much of this beauty is due to 
 heredity, to the reflex influence of Christians, and the di- 
 rect influence of Christian institutions. Christ has left 
 his impress upon all society. The distinction has been 
 made, and in some measure is just, that the Church of 
 J'-siis includes the rate of God, but the kingdom 
 
 of Christ embraces all within those nations wherein the 
 Church has been established. In this sense these lovely 
 in n and women, though unregenerate, have caught and 
 retain upon their sensitive natures the reflection, aye, the 
 impress of Christian ■ Yet at the best, it must 
 
 be said that these graces are artificial ; their loveliness is 
 that of the painter's canvas laid upon the surface 
 by an external force, not like that of the flower, a pro- 
 duct and expression of an inward personal life-force. 
 One may find a most perfect exposition of this truth in 
 
BE A UTIFUL FL O U ERS AND TENDER GRAPES. 3 1 7 
 
 the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Co- 
 rinthians. There we are taught that one may have outer 
 adornment of the goodliest and most gracious behavior, 
 may bestow ail his goods to feed the poor, may even 
 give his body to be burned, yet lacking Agape, grace, 
 charity, love, all else profiteth nothing. Here we see the 
 difference between the graces of polite society and true 
 Christian loveliness. It is precisely the difference be- 
 tween natural flowers, the growth of spring, and artificial 
 flowers, the product of human skill. 
 
 3. There is this other point to be noted. The philos- 
 ophy of heathenism, the ethics of modern unbelief, the 
 graces of society, the culture of art, science, and litera- 
 ture are impracticable as forces taken by themselves for 
 the elevation of the masses. One might as well under- 
 take to adorn the whole surface of the earth with hot- 
 house plants, or decorate it with vases of artificial flowers, 
 as to open up upon the entire life of humanity the graces 
 of a Christian civilization simply by the forces known 
 generally under the word culture. There is but one 
 force known among men that is practicable for the rescue 
 of our race from the unloveliness and misery of sin. It 
 is the force of the Holy Spirit breathing through the 
 religion of Jesus Christ. If ever the fairest graces of 
 humanity are to mantle the whole earth it shall only be 
 when the Sun of Divine righteousness and love has gir- 
 dled the race with quickening rays to give Divine kind- 
 ling within every human heart and vitality to the Gospel 
 truth which comes to it. Nothing but Christianity can 
 accomplish this result, and this result I believe Chris- 
 tianity will accomplish. 
 
 4. We pass from these general to individual reflec- 
 tions, to your own experience and life. The heart which 
 is renewed in the image of Christ must set forth upon 
 the behavior some flowers of Christian loveliness. The 
 true Christian has in him necessarily the elements of a 
 true gentleman. Read some of the precepts of our 
 holy faith. Begin with the Golden Rule. " All things, 
 therefore, whatsoever ye would that men should do unto 
 
3 1 S THE GOSPEL IN NA Tl r RE. 
 
 you, even so do ye also unto them." " In lienor pre- 
 ferring one another. "f " Be pitiful, be courteous."} 
 " Being reviled we bless. "§ " Tln>u shalt love thy neigh- 
 bor as thyself." | "Rejoice with them that rejoice; 
 weep with them that weep." \ " Give to him that asketh 
 thee.' " If thine enemy hunger, feed him."tf " Us- 
 ing hospitality one towards another."}} "Forget not 
 to show love unto strangers."§§ "Love suffereth long, 
 and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not it- 
 self, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, 
 seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account 
 of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth 
 with the truth ; beareth all things, believeth all things, 
 endureth all thing " If a brother or sister be naked, 
 
 and in lack of daily food, and any one of you say unto 
 them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled ; and yet 
 give them not the things needful to the body ; what doth 
 it profit ?"Tffl Let us sum up these matchless precepts. 
 " Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatso- 
 ever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, 
 whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are love- 
 ly, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be 
 any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these 
 things."*** 
 
 These are some of the precepts of our divine Lord and 
 his inspired apostles intended to regulate the believer's 
 faith. The very reading of them is a powerful enforce- 
 ment of their claim to emanate from a Divine Source. 
 Can you find such rules of true gentility anywhere in 
 literature, independent of the influence of the Holy 
 Scriptures? I dare assert that such cannot be found. 
 These are flowers that appear on the earth when regen- 
 erated by the influence of the Spirit of our faith. The 
 tendency of Christianity is always to develop these 
 flowers of courtesy, politeness, genuine goodness, and 
 unselfishness. When one is born again there will be 
 some show of these -races. No matter how small the 
 
 ^t. vii. 12. t Rom. xii. i". J I. Pet. iii. 8. \ I. Cor. iv. 
 i2. || Matt. xix. 2o. ' Rom. xii. 15. **Matt. v.42. ft Rom. 
 \ii. 20. I J I. P \\ II'!). xiii. 2. I. Cur. xiii. 4-7. 
 
 ' ' fames ii. 15, 16. *** Phil. iv. s. 
 
BEA UTIFUL FLO WERS AND TENDER GRAPES. 3 1 9 
 
 degree of faith may be, no matter how recent the 
 change, — the flowers will certainly appear as soon as 
 the winter is past. Up among the glaciers of the Alps, 
 where the snow-line verges upon the spring, laying their 
 bright faces against the very borders of the eternal 
 snows, one sees the flowers. Yes, there they are, gen- 
 tians, veronicas, forget-me-nots lifting their blue corols 
 against the very ice. I have seen the like on the Rocky 
 Mountains, where the flowers creep to the border of the 
 snows that hang upon the summits throughout the 
 spring, and linger even in the heats of August. There 
 they always will be, wherever there is the faintest stirring 
 of vegetable life. 
 
 Everywhere about us are they glowing — 
 Some, like stars, to tell us Spring is born ; 
 
 Others, their blue eyes with tears o'erflowing, 
 Stand, like Ruth, amid the golden corn. 
 
 Not alone in Spring's armorial bearing, _ 
 And in Summer's green-emblazoned field, 
 
 But in arms of brave old Autumn's wearing, 
 In the centre of his brazen shield ; 
 
 Not alone in meadows and green alleys, 
 On the mountain-top, and by the brink 
 
 Of sequestered pools in woodland valleys, 
 Where the slaves of Nature stoop to drink ; 
 
 Not alone in her vast dome of glory, 
 Not on graves of bird and beast alone, 
 
 But in old cathedrals, high and hoary, 
 On the tombs of heroes, carved in stone. 
 
 In the cottage of the rudest peasant ; 
 
 In ancestral homes, whose crumbling towers, 
 Speaking of the Past unto the Present, 
 
 Tell us of the ancient Games of Flowers.* 
 
 So it is with the soul renewed. If it be changed at 
 all there will be a blossoming out of virtues and graces. 
 One would as soon think of May without flowers as a 
 genuine conversion without softening of the manners, 
 sweetening of look and tone and action. The remark 
 of Mr. Whitfield, I believe it was, is only another way of 
 
 * Henry Wadsworth Longfellow— "Flowers." 
 
320 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 putting the same truth: " I have little confidence in the 
 religion of a man who is not made thereby more kindly 
 even to his cat." I fear that some persons who profess 
 and call themselves Christians, and who, it may be hoped, 
 are indeed such, are fighting against the very power that 
 is seeking to beautify their lives because they have mis- 
 taken upon this point. The flowers do appear in their 
 lives, but they deliberately pluck them up and cast them 
 away as altogether contrary to a manly character and 
 true Christian walk. 
 
 " I am a very blunt man ! " You have more than once, 
 doubtless, heard that utterance as a sort of proud, satis- 
 factory and sufficient excuse for riding rough-shod over 
 one's sensibilities. Or you have heard it said, " I must 
 be faithful!" as the sufficient reason for breaking into 
 the garden of one's heart and trampling upon every 
 tenderest sentiment and honorable impulse. Now, I am 
 free to say for myself, that I do not like such " blunt " 
 people, and I am not pleased to be the subject of such 
 so-called faithfulness. 
 
 Never was there a more faithful man to the souls of 
 men than St. Paul, and yet a spirit of courtesy and tender 
 persuasion is everywhere manifest in his words and 
 actions. Who was so faithful — who can be — as the Son 
 of Man himself? Yet gentleness and sweetness, the 
 very flowers of gentility, goodness, charity and com- 
 passion, marked his earthly career. You may be sure 
 that men will not tolerate your so-called bluntness and 
 faithfulness when they show conspicuously the absence 
 of kindness, consideration and good manners. Seek- 
 therefore to prove by the beauty of your character and 
 dealing, that Christianity makes men better in every re- 
 spect. The man who becomes a Christian becomes 
 more truly a gentleman; the woman who becomes a 
 Christian becomes more certainly a gentlewoman. How 
 can it be otherwise ? When the winter is past the flowers 
 must appear in the earth ! 
 
 I do not forget that all soils are not equally and natu- 
 rally adapted to flowers. Some have to be made over 
 with fresh material, and worked carefully and 'long be- 
 fore the sweet blossoms that we love to see in our beds 
 
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND TENDER GRAPES. X2 
 
 21 
 
 and borders, can be made to grow within them. Such 
 differences appear also among men. Some natures are 
 more rugged than others, less adapted to the graces of 
 life and better fitted for the rougher work which some- 
 times has to be done in a hard and wicked world. Yet, 
 even so thinking, I do not recall what has been spoken, 
 but declare that, as I read the Gospels of Christ, the 
 result is well worth the labor, and that no matter how 
 rugged the natural disposition, if it once receive the 
 Gospel with a true spiritual faith it will inevitably blos- 
 som forth with some graces of a Christian gentility. Of 
 this one maybe well assured, there is no life so poor that 
 the flowers of grace will shun it, just as there is no spot 
 of earth wherein the flowers of the field may not be 
 made to appear. 
 
 III. A third lesson which we may learn from the ap- 
 pearing of the flowers is that the best Test of a Change 
 of Heart is a Change of Life. 
 
 We count the winter months to be December, January 
 and February, and the months of spring we name March, 
 April and May. That division may be true of other 
 lands and certain sections of our own land, but it is not 
 true of the northern part of these United States. Often 
 the dreariest form of winter prevails during March, which 
 the almanac makers have declared to be a Spring month. 
 But every one knows that the almanac is not infallible, 
 and that the seasons have a way of their own of hasten- 
 ing and retarding their coming, and shortening and pro- 
 longing their stay, with utter indifference to the fixed 
 proprieties of our artificial appointments. You may 
 label March " Spring time," but if the fields are snow- 
 bound and the temperature below freezing point, you 
 will know it to be winter quite the same. The ther- 
 mometer and the flowers are better tests of Spring than 
 the almanac. 
 
 The first class in whose behalf I would apply our 
 metaphor is the children. They have often been the 
 victims of that error which hedges about the period of 
 regeneration with arbitrary bounds. You doubtless 
 know some excellent people who are very sceptical 
 
$22 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 about God's ability to convert a little child. Although 
 the Saviour said, "Of such is the kingdom of Heaven,'' 
 they hold very firmly to the notion that the kingdom 
 ought to be barred against " such." In other words, if 
 a child wishes to make profession of his faith in Jesus 
 Christ they say he has not yet reached the proper age — 
 he is too young! Pray, what is the proper age? When 
 may the young people say, " The May day of my soul has 
 come ; the winter is past ! " When ? You do not name 
 the exact date perhaps, but in your minds you have fixed 
 a boundary and have said, on this side of youth it may 
 be spring, on that I hardly believe it is. Therefore you 
 hold the dear children back from professing their Lord 
 and keeping the Paschal feast in memory of his dying 
 love. What shall we say to you ? If April ^ives three 
 weeks - of spring weather shall we refuse to call it Spring 
 because it is not the First of May? If leaves are fully 
 opened upon the trees in squares and parks, forests and 
 fields, and the grass is almost r^ady for its first cutting, 
 and the flowers have been peeping their blue eyes above 
 the sward for weeks, and the spring birds have been 
 chirping, whistling, piping, twittering, and caroling from 
 house-tops and trees, will you point your finger to the 
 almanac and say: This is not spring, and we will not 
 suffer ourselves or others the comfort of a belief that so 
 it is? Yet, thus acting you would be no wiser than you 
 are in that unfortunate policy which excludes children 
 from the public privileges and private enjoyments of full 
 membership in Christ's Church. 
 
 No man may limit the operations of the Holy Spirit. 
 There are diversities of gifts, we are told, but the same- 
 Spirit.* Regeneration has its own laws. No man can 
 say how early in life the quickening of the soul may 
 come, and no man ought to fix bounds in any case, and 
 say that it cannot be come until the years have thus far 
 advanced, or until body and brain shall thus far have 
 grown. The point for all to consider is simply — has 
 this child the experience that befits a Christian child ? 
 he love his Saviour? Does he wish to confers 
 Him? Does he understand the mystery of the Holy 
 
 * I. Cor. xii. .;• 
 
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND TENDER GRAPES. 323 
 
 Communion of his body and blood ? Does he enjoy 
 the services of God's house, and the fellowship of God's 
 people ? Is it his desire to remember the Lord's death 
 until he come? Have the flowers of religious Faith 
 and Hope appeared ? I endorse cordially the direction 
 of that venerable communion in whose ministry I serve, 
 concerning children born within the pale of the visible 
 Church and dedicated to God in baptism : " When they 
 come to years of discretion, if they be free from scandal, 
 appear sober and steady, and to have sufficient knowl- 
 edge to discern the Lord's body, they ought to be in- 
 formed it is their duty and their privilege to come to 
 the Lord's supper. 
 
 " The years of discretion, in young Christians, cannot 
 be precisely fixed. This must be left to the prudence 
 of the eldership. The officers of the Church are the 
 judges of the qualifications of those to be admitted to 
 sealing ordinances ; and of the time when it is proper 
 to admit young Christians to them."* 
 
 The flowers of the vine as spoken of in the text 
 well illustrate this truth for us. " The fig tree putteth 
 forth her green figs, and the vines with tender grapes 
 give a good smell." f The figs, you observe, are " green 
 figs," the grapes are " tender grapes." It is rather in the 
 promise than in its realization that the Christian charac- 
 ter and life are here presented. The fruits are immature. 
 The ripening is yet to be; but that does not alter the 
 fact that the change from winter to spring, from death 
 to life, has really taken place. Are there not those who 
 seem to think that in the Lord's vineyard the harvest 
 should come in the time of sowing, and the vintage in 
 the time of bloom? Children may be Christians, but 
 they will be Christian children. It is not fitting in the 
 economy of nature, or in the economy of grace that the 
 child should be anything but a child. The blossoms of 
 the True Vine will be simply — blossoms. 
 
 We do, indeed, sometimes find children who are pre- 
 maturely old. They seem never to have been children. 
 But this condition is the result either of misfortune or of 
 
 * Westminster Confession of Faith, Directory for Worship, 
 chapter ix. f Authorized version. 
 
324 THE <; < >SPEL IN A". / 77 RE. 
 
 sin. The bloom of childhood has been nipped by con- 
 genital disease, or destroyed by hereditary taint and 
 environment of sin, or by cruel, foolish society. Oh, it 
 is both a sorrow and a shame — a child life on which n<> 
 flowers of childhood are blooming! What folly, nay, 1 
 will add, what wickedness to seek to perpetuate a con- 
 dition and character like this in the Church of the living 
 God. Let children be Christians, but let them be Chris- 
 tian children! Remember that even "green figs" and 
 " tender grapes " tell the story of a present spring. Says 
 the inspired writer, " Man cometh forth as a flower."* 
 But the flower cometh forth as a bud. Children are the 
 Buds of Humanity. Would it not be a strange garden 
 without buds in spring time ? Would it be a garden at 
 all? No, indeed! Then bring in these Household 
 Buds, our children dear, to adorn the garden of the 
 Master and glorify by their sweetness the grace which 
 calls them into life, and which in due time-will cause 
 them to open into full beaut}-, and develop the seeds of 
 a holy maturity. 
 
 2. Again, that quality in the act of regeneration and 
 the work of sanctificaticn which I have been pleading in 
 the children's behalf needs also to be mentioned for the 
 encouragement and vindication of many adult believers. 
 I need not repeat what was said in a former lecture upon 
 the progressive character of the religious life; bur. I wish 
 here to emphasize the difference between regeneration 
 and conversion for the sake of a lesson which I am sure 
 many need to learn. Regeneration, which is the new 
 birth, is a gift once for all time; conversion, which is the 
 turning again to Cod, is a gift and duty for even" act of 
 sin. Thus the questions emerge: Does regeneration 
 leave man's heart perfect, sinless ; or can one be a Chris- 
 tian and sin at all ? It must be remembered, in answer 
 to this, that in the act of regeneration the habit is 
 changed, its general drift and bent are turned toward 
 Cod. There maybe variations from the right line — they 
 are sinful. They should be sorrowed for; should be 
 
 *Job xiv. 2. 
 
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND TENDER GRAPES. 325 
 
 shunned; they are not to be justified, nor repeated ; but 
 the soul should not despond because of them, nor do 
 they necessarily prove that one is not a Christian The 
 mind and manner in the outcome of the whole life jour- 
 ney may be heavenward, and in the child of God it will be 
 so in spite of those lapses into which he may fall. The 
 Spring does not at once cover and clear away all the 
 marks of Winter. The stubble stands in the wheat-field, 
 the corn-stalks on the prairie, the spears of withered 
 grass upon the meadow, the dry leaves in the forest. 
 Nevertheless, around all debris and decay of the season 
 past Spring slowly weaves her emerald mantle, and 
 amidst the living green appear the flowers. 
 
 I know an apple tree that stands almost the last sur- 
 vivor in an old orchard. Its sturdy trunk is covered 
 with parasitic fungi and knotty warts ; its limbs are 
 partly gnarled and decayed; but look up into its branches 
 on a May morning ! The twigs are white with blossoms ; 
 the air is fragrant with their odor. For five-and-t weary . 
 years the old tree has yearly made that promise of fruit- 
 age, and for five-and-twenty years has fulfilled it. It has 
 sheltered and fed the children of the cottage over which 
 it spreads its boughs. It feeds and shelters the chil- 
 dren still, and the gray-haired sire who bends upon his 
 staff as he looks into the blossoming top and thinks 
 of the spring time of his life. One may regret the 
 roughness, excrescences, knots, and twists of the old 
 tree, but is it not a tree? Aye, has it not in the main 
 been a good tree? Dare you, will you forget the genu- 
 ine service of the past, the blessings still whitening upon 
 it, because of its gnarled form ? At least, God will not 
 forget. He is not only merciful, but just. He knoweth 
 our frame ; He remembereth that we are dust. He will 
 treasure up our deeds and deal in tenderness with " the 
 worm Jacob." 
 
 I am not pleading that the trees in the Lord's garden 
 should grow gnarled and wart-covered with sin. Nay, 
 it is better that they should grow from youth up tall 
 and shapely as well as fruitful. But I do insist that 
 a tree upon which year by year the flowers appear, and 
 whose flowers year by year develop into fruit, is and 
 
326 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 ought to be accounted a tree ! " By their fruit ye shall 
 know them." That is the Master's test; let it also be 
 ours. 
 
 IV. Let us notice as we lay aside our theme that the 
 flowers are associated with the Brevity of human Life and 
 the Blessedness of Immortality in Heaven. 
 
 The Hebrew prophets give little notice to the flowers 
 compared to what one would naturally expect from the 
 abundance and beauty of these objects of Nature, as well 
 as from the usual sensitiveness of the writers themselves 
 to the influences of Nature. For the most part, 
 Scripture references are confined to mournful reflection 
 upon the decay of the flowers, which are alluded to un- 
 der the general name of " grass." This fact is made a 
 parable of the uncertain tenure of human life. Of man 
 Job says, " He cometh forth as a flower and is cut 
 down."* The Psalmist David repeats the mournful re- 
 frain, " As for man, his days are as grass ; as a flower 
 of the field, so he flourisheth."f Isaiah represents the 
 pride of Ephraim as the " glorious beauty of a fading 
 flower."^ Again, that voice which the prophet heard 
 sounding in the wilderness the note of preparation for the 
 coming of the Lord, is tuned to the same minor key: "All 
 flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof is as the flower 
 of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth."§ 
 The same spirit largely pervades the New Testament al- 
 lusions to flowers. St. James exhorts the rich to rejoice 
 " in that he is made low : because as the flower of the 
 grass he shall pass away. For the sun riseth with the 
 scorching wind, and withereth the grass; and the flower 
 thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perish- 
 eth : so shall the rich man fade away in his going." | 
 
 Even our Saviour in his well-known allusion to the 
 lilies, although He does indeed emphasize their glorious 
 beaut}-, yet seems to be touched quite as deeply with the 
 sense of their swift decay in the words, " If God so 
 clothe the grass which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast 
 into the oven." These expressions remind us of kindred 
 
 ■Job xvi. 2. f Ps. ciii. 15. \ Isa. xxviii. 1. \ Isa. xl. 6-7. 
 || James i. 10-11. 
 
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND TENDER GRAPES. 327 
 
 thoughts associated with flowers in the tender words of 
 two of our best known American poets : — 
 
 Gorgeous flowers in the sunlight shining, 
 
 Blossoms flaunting in the eye of day, 
 Tremulous leaves, with soft and silver lining, 
 
 Buds that open only to decay ; 
 
 Brilliant hopes, all woven in gorgeous tissues, 
 
 Flaunting gayly in the golden light ; 
 Large desires, with most uncertain issues, 
 
 Tender wishes, blossoming at night.* 
 
 The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago, 
 
 And the brier-rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow ; 
 
 But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood, 
 
 And the yellow sunflower by the brook, in autumn beauty stood, 
 
 Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the plague on 
 
 men, 
 And the brightness of their smile was gone from upland, glade and 
 
 glen. 
 
 And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died, 
 The fair meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side. 
 In the cold moist earth we laid her when the forest cast the leaf, 
 And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief; 
 Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours, 
 So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers.f 
 
 There is another quotation from Scripture which I 
 make because it introduces to us in the way of contrast 
 a more cheerful lesson. St. Peter J quotes from Isaiah 
 these words, 
 
 All flesh is as grass, 
 
 And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. 
 The grass withereth, and the flower falleth : 
 But the word of the Lord abideth for ever. £ 
 
 "And this is the word of good tidings," he continues, 
 " which was preached unto you." Thus we are led 
 through the sad reflection of man's sure and early perish- 
 ing, like the flower, to joyful confidence in the word of 
 God which assures him of immortal blessedness in 
 Heaven. 
 
 * Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — " Flowers." f William 
 Cullen Bryant — "The Death of the Flowers." % I. Pet. i. 24. 
 §Isa. xl. 8. 
 
328 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 Our sacred poets have been quick to catch this cheer- 
 ful association. It is not strange, inasmuch as the earthly 
 Canaan is a land of flowers, that hymnologists should 
 have clothed the heavenly Caanan with kindred beauty. 
 Who of us has not rejoiced in Isaac Watts' picture of 
 the heavenly country? 
 
 There is a land of pure delight 
 
 Where saints immortal reign ; 
 Infinite day excludes the night, 
 
 And pleasures banish pain. 
 
 There everlasting spring abides, 
 Ami never-withering flowers; 
 
 1 Hath, like a narrow sea, divides 
 This heavenly land from ours. 
 
 Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood 
 
 Stand dressed in living green ; 
 So to the Jews old Canaan stood, 
 
 While Jordan rolled between. 
 
 The sweet hymn of Tappan, beginning "There is an 
 hour of peaceful rest," has made us think of heaven as 
 a land of immortal bloom : — 
 
 There fragrant flowers immortal bloom, 
 
 And jovs supreme are given ; 
 There rays divine disperse the gloom ; 
 Beyond the dark and narrow tomb 
 
 Appears the dawn of heaven. * 
 
 To my mind this is something more than a poetic 
 figure. I confidently expect, if I am so happy as to 
 reach Heaven, to behold it decked with flowers — I was 
 about to say, but will not, — lovelier even than those 
 which beautify this world. I would fain hope to see 
 there some of the familiar plants whose forms and fra- 
 grance are associated in memory with the holiest 
 thoughts of parents and kindred, home and sanctuary; 
 that have carried to me expressions of the sweetest luxes 
 of life; that have borne to me in sickness and trial 
 tender remembrances of kind friends; that have been 
 laid by mourning hearts and trembling hands upon the 
 graves of the dear and dead. But of that one need not 
 
 *William B. Tappan. 
 
BEA UTIFUL FL O WERS AND TENDER GRAPES. 329 
 
 be too confident. Enough for us to think and believe 
 that the heavenly country will be made a fitting place 
 for us, and that doubtless our Father, who knows us as 
 we are, will not forget our pure and lawful tastes, and in 
 some wise, that shall minister to our unalloyed happi- 
 ness, will deck the plains of Heaven with a beauty that 
 must be perfect since it is the consummate work of Him 
 who is " altogether lovely." Yet, whatever remains un- 
 certain, this at least we know, that the highest joy of 
 'heaven will be to gaze forever upon the unfading Beauty 
 and inhale forever the holy Fragrance of that Life which 
 when on earth was sweetly symbolized by flowers, — the 
 Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valleys, the true Vine 
 " with the tender grapes." 
 
LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 The Salt of the Earth. 
 
 "Ye are the salt of the earthy — Matthew v. 13. 
 
THE SALT OF THE EARTH. 
 
 The sense in which a saying is to be taken often de- 
 pends quite as much on the spirit of the utterance, the 
 character of the speaker and the circumstances under 
 which the words were spoken, as upon the exact phras- 
 ing itself. Here is an illustration. Had this sentence, 
 " Ye are the salt of the earth," been spoken by a Phari- 
 saic rabbi, how differently the world would regard it! 
 We might well conceive a Jewish doctor reiterating, — 
 in the village synagogue, or the Sanhedrim room on 
 Mount Moriah, in just such figures as Jesus used in 
 this Sermon on the Mount, — the old boast of Jewish 
 superiority, Ye, children of Abraham, are the salt of the 
 earth ! Ye, Hebrews, are the light of the world ! Ye, 
 Jews, are a city set on a hill. The only sentiment pro- 
 duced in our minds would be indignation, or perhaps, 
 if the grace of God and charity prevailed, pity. To be 
 sure, there is a standpoint from which our supposed 
 rabbi would be quite correct. " What advantage then 
 hath the Jew?" cried the inspired apostle.* "Much every 
 way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the 
 oracles of God." That was a fact of Providence which 
 justly placed them far above other nations in point of 
 spiritual condition and privilege. What then was the 
 error of our supposed rabbi ? The answer brings us 
 to our first thought, namely : — 
 
 I. Christianity is a Religion for the whole Human 
 Race. The duty, responsibilities and endeavors of 
 Christianity embrace the world. 
 
 The Jew looked at his position not from the high 
 ground of duty, but from the low standpoint of pride. 
 The catholic responsibilities which had been laid upon 
 
 *Rom. iii. 1-2. 
 
 (333) 
 
334 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 him he perverted into odious caste. He had, indeed, been 
 made the conservator of the oracles of God. But f< »r what ? 
 He was salt, but salt of the earth. He was light, but 
 light of the world. God honored him that thereby the 
 universal brotherhood might be blessed. The treasures 
 of Heaven were committed to him that mankind might 
 be enriched. Like Joseph in Egypt he was exalted to 
 spiritual lordship among men that he might garner the 
 bread of life, and spread it among the perishing sons 
 and daughters of Adam. 
 
 It was a terrible sin, it was the one unpardonable sin 
 of that nation that this duty, responsibility and catholic 
 love were permitted to degenerate into a religious and 
 ethnic caste. Yet, let us not judge too harshly! Perhaps 
 the proportion of Israelites who knew the time of their 
 visitation and rose to the height of its noble vocation 
 was as great as is to-day the proportion of like spirits 
 in our own land of infinite possibilities. At least, thank- 
 God ! — there were Jews enough, though a mere remnant 
 according to the election of grace, to open their heart- 
 to their real divine mission, and carry a catholic faith 
 into the whole world. 
 
 " Ye are the salt of the earth." The words fell from 
 the lips of Jesus of Nazareth as he sat on the Mount of 
 Beatitudes, with his disciples gathered around him. Ik- 
 was organizing redemption for the race, — not for the Jews 
 alone. He was drilling, instructing, disciplining men who 
 should be conservators of the Gospel, that full fruitage 
 of the old faith of Israel. He was not organizing a new 
 'lis caste; he was not building up one more bar- 
 rier between the already too much riven and separated 
 elements of humanity. He came not to destroy, but to 
 save; not to divide in a sectarian sense, but to unite. 
 ive the world from further corruption and decay ; 
 to lift anew the standard of the old, simple faith of the 
 patriarchs; to fling forth once more the banner of uni- 
 versal love; to rally by his Good-news the nations to 
 his standard, and cement them into one kingdom ami 
 family by the blood of his cross, — such were the great 
 purposes of the Teacher who sat upon that mountain 
 top in Galilee. 
 
THE SAL T OF THE EAR TH 335 
 
 The broad sky was above him. No walls of earthly 
 or sectarian temple shut him in. The vaulted dome of 
 the universal Father's dwelling-place raised its azure 
 heights around him. The grass and flowers brightened 
 the face of mother earth, the floor of the temple wherein 
 He taught. It is an inspiring picture that rises upon 
 our imagination ; and how incalculable the issues of that 
 hour! From that hill-top has flowed down upon the 
 world unto the remotest ages a stream of blessing. In 
 that sermon was a fountain of salvation, and like another 
 Elisha the Master's hand had cast into it the salt of 
 healing and preservation. " Ye are the salt of the earth " 
 — not for Judea and Galilee, but for the world I commis- 
 sion you. Not for the lordship of earthly ambition such 
 as, in the dreams of modern Popes, might bring abject 
 rulers and peoples to bow before the sceptre of a uni- 
 versal Bishop, but the field is the world to plow, and 
 plant, and till ; — -a harvest-field in which to gather sheaves 
 for the glory of Christ and the weal of souls. 
 
 Has there not always remained in the world the 
 temptation to fall into substantially the error of the an- 
 cient Jewish rabbi and make Christianity a caste? Has 
 there not often been manifest a spirit of pride in our re- 
 ligion, as lifting the nations which possess it above other 
 nations such as the Japanese, the Chinese, the Hin- 
 doo, the Negro, the Indian ? Has there not been thus 
 wrought out a spirit of caste so strong as to tempt 
 Christian nations to tyranny, selfishness, inhumanity, 
 cruelty in dealing with nations of an alien faith ? Nay ! 
 within the very bosom of Christianity how often is the 
 same spirit developed? We have seen one denomina- 
 tion looking contemptuously upon another; one calling 
 itself " The Church," and all others "the sects," " the dis- 
 senters ;" saying " We are the people; depart from us 
 because we are holier than thou ! " 
 
 It should not be so! The Christian is a true cosmo- 
 politan — a citizen of the world. The spirit of primitive 
 Christianity overleaped natural and political boundaries; 
 oceans, rivers, mountain chains ; Alps, Apennines, Pyre- 
 nees ; Danube, Rhone or Rhine ; channels, seas and 
 oceans. Over these all ran and leaped and flew the 
 
336 THE GOSPEL IX X ATI' RE. 
 
 spirit of universal love and consecration, and the earth 
 was made one. Race, nationality, language, denomina- 
 tion were barriers that dropped down at the presence of 
 this spirit, and hearts of Christians mingled in their de- 
 votions around the throne of the one Lord of the Church 
 and the earth. Shall it ever be thus again ? Yes, it 
 shall thus be. The Church is not yet ripe, but is ripen- 
 ing for that day. It will come ! It is coming! Above 
 the horizon of the future I see the dim outlines rising. 
 
 The third Millennial of Christianity will greet its full 
 glory. Hark ! It is the grand chorus of the universal 
 kingdom of our Lord, chanting as with one voice those 
 articles of our venerable creed, " I believe in the Holy 
 Catholic Church — the communion of saints." " Glory to 
 God in the highest, and on earth — Peace ! " 
 
 Of the Divine Father it is said, " For God so loved 
 the world." * Of Jesus Christ it is said, "And he is the 
 propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also 
 for the whole world."^ Of the Holy Ghost it is said, 
 " And he, when he is come, will convict the world in re- 
 spect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."! 
 To the Apostles and Christian ministry it is said, " Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every 
 creature." § Of the Saints it is said, " Ye are the salt of 
 the earth." | Our love is to be like the Father's, our 
 spirit of self-sacrifice and bestowment like the Saviour's, 
 our labors and spiritual influence like the Comforter's — 
 for the world ; our commission is like that of the apos- 
 tles, to all mankind — " Ye are the salt of the earth." 
 
 Herein is one of the essential elements of Christ- 
 ianity. It expands the mental horizon of man. It lifts 
 him upon a high mountain-top and shows him all the 
 kingdoms of the world; not in the spirit of the old 
 tempter, to have and hold for selfish pleasure, for it is 
 Mount Calvary whereto Christ leads the Christian, and 
 earthly ambitions can find no place thereon. Christ- 
 ianity gives to man a larger, broader, higher, deeper na- 
 ture. It teaches and compels him to love, duty and 
 
 *Jo1in iii. 16. 1 1. John ii. 2. jjolm xvi. S. ? Luke xvi. 15. 
 || Matt. v. 13. 
 
THE SALT OF THE EARTH. 337 
 
 sacrifice for the race. Glorious truth ! How dimly 
 apprehended even now! 
 
 Perhaps some despondent Christian heart is saying 
 to-day, "Alas! but the earth is not the Lord's. Who 
 has believed our report? How few there be that be 
 saved ! Salt is but a sparingly distributed mineral after 
 all. I fear that the figure of your text holds good, and 
 that Christianity is no more widely distributed than 
 salt." Doubting and timid fellow-believer, is it so ? 
 Whence are the supplies of salt? Here and there salt 
 springs bubble up from the bowels of the earth, and 
 human industry converts the saline waters into the pun- 
 gent preservative crystals. Here and there, again, we 
 see immense deposits of this mineral within the earth, as 
 along the shores of the Dead Sea, in Louisiana, and in 
 Germany, and these are mined by human industry. 
 These are our chief sources of supply, but there is 
 another, older, and more primitive source. Go stand 
 upon the seashore. Dip up in your hand from yon 
 retiring wave a portion of the waters. Place it to your 
 tongue. It is salt ! Yes, the great sea is there spread- 
 ing from equator to poles. • It holds its sovereignty 
 over three-fourths of the earth's surface. 
 
 Assuming as a basis of calculation that each gallon of 
 sea water contains about a quarter of a pound of salt,* 
 and allowing an average density of 2.24 for rock salt, it 
 has been computed that the entire ocean, if dried, would 
 yield no less than four and a half millions (4,419,360) 
 of cubic miles of rock salt ! That would make a mass 
 about fourteen and one-half times the bulk of the entire 
 continent of Europe above high-water mark, mountain 
 chains and all. Salt is not in such narrow diffusion, 
 therefore, as you had supposed. It is everywhere, — as 
 universal as ocean. 
 
 It is written f that in the days of the peaceful king- 
 dom of the Messiah " The earth shall be full of the 
 knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 
 Or, to put it in other words, they who are the salt of the 
 earth shall fill the earth. Has the promise not been ful- 
 filled ? In a measure, yes ! The salt of the faith has 
 
 * 0.2547 pound, flsa. xi. 9. 
 
338 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 been cast everywhere in our days. The great salt ocean 
 of Christian love and truth skirts and laves the shores 
 of every continent. It engirdles islands. It runs up 
 and pierces the hearts of nations as the tide waters of 
 the Atlantic push back along the Delaware almost to 
 our city gates. We have been singing many years 
 Bishop Heber's noble missionary hymn : — 
 
 Waft, waft, ye winds ! his story, 
 
 And you, ye waters ! roll, 
 Till, like a sea of glory, 
 
 It spreads from pole to pole. 
 
 We might change the sentiment from supplication with 
 its outlook into the future, to one of realization and 
 thankful retrospect of work accomplished, and say :— 
 
 The winds have borne the story ; 
 
 The healing waters roll, 
 And like a sea of glory, 
 
 They spread from pole to pole. 
 
 Certainly, much remains to be accomplished, but on 
 the contrary much has been done towards the accom- 
 plishment of the sublime and difficult commission com- 
 mitted to the Church by Jesus Christ eighteen centuries 
 ago. More will be done, much more than ever our most 
 sanguine visions depicted, when the Church shall rise to 
 fully conceive and undertake the work that Christ has 
 laid before her, the healing of the whole world, as "the 
 salt of the earthy 
 
 II. In the second place we are here taught the Value 
 of Individual Effort and Character. 
 
 This truth comes to light when we read our text with 
 the emphasis on the first word. " Yi; are the salt of the 
 world." Not Christianity simply, but Christians ! "Ye" 
 — not alone tlie doctrines which ye preach — " are the salt 
 of the earth." 
 
 Truth, doctrine, dogma must not be undervalued, but 
 it ought to be a prominent thought in your minds that 
 Ye are personally an element in the great work of saving 
 the earth, — not your creed simply, but yourselves ! Not 
 your system, but yourselves ! Not your Church, but 
 yourselves ! 
 
THE SALT OF THE EARTH 339 
 
 " Do I not support the Church ?" you ask. " Do I 
 not pay the minister -to preach the faith ? Do I not con- 
 tribute to send missionaries to the ends of the earth, 
 to carry the Gospel 'to the heathens? Do I not con- 
 tribute to publication societies and religious jour- 
 nals to print and distribute the Gospel ?" Yes ! all 
 that you do. You ought to do a great deal more of 
 that! But were you to do your utmost, still the truth 
 remains, " Ye are the salt of the earth." The world will 
 not be saved without the personal influence and direct 
 labor of Christian men and women. Your own individ- 
 ual duty can never be done by proxy. 
 
 Our Lord once said to Peter, "Thou art Peter, and 
 upon this rock I will build my Church." * There has 
 been a vast amount of discussion over the intent and 
 effect of this saying. On the one hand it is said, 
 " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock " — on thee, Peter, 
 the apostle — " I will build my Church." On the other 
 hand it is claimed that Jesus meant to say: "Thou art 
 Peter, and upon this rock " — that is, the confession that 
 I am the true Messiah which you have made — " I will 
 build my Church." To me it seems that both parties 
 have the truth. On the rock-truth and the rock-truth 
 bearers, on the true confession and the true confessors, 
 on Peter's creed and Peter's self alike Christ has built 
 and ever will build his Church. In other words, while 
 Christian doctrine must be proclaimed and defended as 
 forming the thought and so controlling the life of men, 
 we must emphasize equally the fact that Christian indi- 
 viduals are required to give force and vitality to the 
 truth which is embraced. However pure the doctrine 
 may be, if the Church professing it be dead, indifferent, 
 inactive, or if its life be contradictory of its precepts, 
 the truth shall have little sway upon the minds and con- 
 sciences of mankind. 
 
 " Ye are the salt of the earth," said Jesus; " but if the 
 salt hath lost its savor" — what then? This expression is 
 an indication to us that under the imperfect conditions 
 of transportation in Christ's era, salt frequently reached 
 the consumer in a very impure state, being largely mixed 
 
 *Matt. xvi. 18. 
 
340 77//:" Gi >SPEL IN NA TL 'RE. 
 
 with earth. Salt which has lost its savor is simply the 
 earthy residuum of such impure salt after the sodium 
 chloride has been washed out. What a striking image 
 this presents of a character from which has been taken 
 away all those elements of spiritual health and saving 
 which mark a true child of God. What is such a Chris- 
 tian ? He is but a lump of common earth from which 
 every heavenly element has been absorbed, and there is 
 no place for him, and no use for him but to mingle with 
 the earthy elements to which he belongs, or as our Lord 
 expresses it — " to be cast out and trampled under foot 
 of men." 
 
 Let all who put the chief emphasis upon the Church as 
 an organization simply; upon the ministry as simply an 
 apostolic succession, the recipients and vehicles of the 
 grace of Christ to men, — let them remember this! — the 
 Church without the true Christian is but the earth with- 
 out pure salt. A Church organization whose members 
 have lost their spiritual pungency and saving power is 
 no better, indeed I sometimes fear it is even worse than 
 any other simple hunxm and earthly organization around 
 it. Oh ! beloved friends, our only safety for ourselves, 
 our only security for the preservation of the Church, our 
 only hope that we shall be the saving element in the 
 world is that we ourselves should retain the savor of a 
 holy faith and holy life, keeping us in communion with 
 our Holy Lord. Ye! Ye I Keep the emphasis upon 
 this word, "Ye are the salt of the earth." 
 
 III. A third lesson which we may learn from this 
 natural symbol concerns the Method of Christian Saving. 
 
 How docs salt fulfill its office of savoring and preserv- 
 ing? It is laid upon the object, it dissolves into the 
 animal fluids, it melts away out of sight and pervades the 
 whole tissues with its curative, preservative qualities. 
 Put a few grains of table salt into a dish of broth. It is 
 distributed silently and .swiftly throughout the whole. 
 It reaches every drop of the fluid mass. It cannot be 
 seen, but it can be tasted. 
 
 It is often thus that Christianity operates in benefit- 
 ing human life and preserving the health of society. It 
 
THE SALT OF THE EARTH. 341 
 
 is a hidden power, working not in the broad glare of ob- 
 servation, but silently entering the hidden openings and 
 disseminating itself secretly. There are some Christians 
 at least who find comfort in such a reflection. They 
 know that their work is not lost to the world, not for- 
 gotten of God because it is not wrought in the eye of 
 day. When Joshua had led the tribes of Israel across 
 the river Jordan he gave commandment that a stone 
 memorial should be erected upon the bed of the stream, 
 each tribe contributing its portion to the monument. 
 Then the waves of the Jordan flowed back and covered 
 it out of sight. The stream rolled on and rolls on. 
 What good could such a memorial as that do ? Who 
 could see it there buried under Jordan's wave? And 
 yet it was there. There it was known to be. There 
 God could see it. No matter though Jordan might flow 
 with so muddy a flood *as to justify Naaman's sneer 
 when comparing it with the limpid streams of Damascus. 
 No matter how fiercely and high its waves might roll 
 when the freshets of spring swept down its overflowing 
 channel. The eye of God beheld the hidden memo- 
 rial, and knowing the purpose of his people's hearts in 
 placing it there, He accepted the offering and was well 
 pleased. 
 
 Why should the Holy of holies in the Jewish temple, 
 that most sacred part of the sanctuary, have been deco- 
 rated and well nigh covered with gold ? Nobody ever 
 saw it except the high priest who entered it for a brief 
 moment or two once a year. But it was there in the 
 presence of God. Its beauty and value were offerings 
 unto Him ; and was it not enough for the devout spirits 
 who made the offerings to know that God did see, and 
 was satisfied with the honor paid Him ? 
 
 We look at our own beautiful sanctuary and admire 
 its graceful proportions and stately architecture. Our 
 eyes run along the line of visible blocks of hewn granite 
 and carved limestone with well-pleased glance. But 
 these exterior blocks form but a little part of the tem- 
 ple. True, they are all that we see, but behind them 
 within the walls, and beneath them in the mighty foun- 
 dations, hidden out of sight and never to be seen, are 
 
342 THE GOSPEL IX X. 1 Tl 'RE. 
 
 those humble rocks that make up the bod}- of both 
 foundation and walls. Why should any one think that 
 because he is out of sight, his influence counts for noth- 
 ing? God has compared all Christian souls to " living 
 stones " in the temple of His salvation. If you be among 
 those living stones that lie in the foundations and form 
 the very kernel and heart of the wall, are you any less 
 the Lord's? Are you any the less serving the Lord ? 
 
 Why, also we may ask, should any one think because 
 he happens to have his place in the outer and visible 
 arrangement of these living stones, that he is better or 
 more useful than those who are not seen and known of 
 men? Nay, Christian friends, let us remember always 
 that he who works in silence and retirement, who faith- 
 fully does his duty as in the sight of God, without fear 
 or favor of men, counts as much as any other in the 
 kingdom of Christ for the glory of God. At all events 
 it is ours to drop where the Master puts us, and there 
 abide while He bids us, using all the power He gives and 
 diffusing our influence silently, savingly, continually. 
 Thus, in the method as well as the quality of our savor- 
 ing, we shall be as " the salt of the earth." 
 
 IV. A fourth lesson from 'the salt points to the Saving 
 and Savoring Influence of Christianity. 
 
 It is quite as true of material saving as of spiritual 
 salvation that Christians are the salt of the earth. Had 
 there been ten righteous men in Sodom the Lord would 
 have spared that city for the ten's sake. No doubt the 
 condition which could not then be met has often since 
 been the ground for preserving communities and cities. 
 We shall never know, until eternity uncovers the fact to 
 us, how greatly the presence of God's people has been 
 the means of diverting judgments and calamities from 
 men. At the origin of Christianity the world was in a 
 peculiar condition. The nations which had theretofore 
 dominated the race were in a condition of decay. The 
 then known world was embraced within the Roman Em- 
 pire, and the outlying nations, although subdued by the 
 iron hand of their Roman masters, were tied in loose affin- 
 ity to the central government. Rome itself was under- 
 
THE SALT OF THE EARTH. 343 
 
 going a decline which was rapidly accelerating with each 
 decade of time. The received religions of the old world 
 were fast losing their hold upon human faith. The 
 minds of men were completely unsettled as to the nature 
 and obligation of religion and the verity of immortality. 
 Then came Christianity with its positive truths, its con- 
 ditions of absolute obedience and surrender, its un- 
 troubled outlook into the future, and unquenchable con- 
 fidence in God's love for the miserable and gift of a 
 happy immortality to the believing. It formed a rally- 
 ing centre for the best elements of mankind in every na- 
 tion of the Roman Empire. In the crash and convul- 
 sions of the ensuing ages, when everything good seemed 
 buried under the general ruin and the race appeared 
 lost, Christianity saved society from total wreckage. 
 Around it as a principle of life gathered all the salvable 
 elements of the world, and out of the ruins there rose 
 slowly, steadily, and at last with mightily accelerated 
 vigor that colossal power, the Church of Jesus, which 
 ever since has maintained a dominating influence with- 
 in the circles of civilized men. Thus Christianity saved 
 society in the primitive centuries of our era. 
 
 There was a period when the Latin Church saved soci- 
 ety. Perhaps it may be said with too much of truth, that 
 it was largely responsible for that condition which de- 
 manded a saving. Be that as it may, during the Middle 
 Ages kings and nobles, inflated with their idea of ruler- 
 ship by divine right, utterly ignored the common people 
 and used them like the stones before their castle gates, 
 or the bridge over the castle moat, as mere stepping 
 stones and approaches to their own selfish ambition, 
 pleasures, and enrichment. In that period the power of 
 the Pope and the clergy interposed between the people and 
 their oppressors and saved society from the destruction 
 which threatened from the abuses of the feudal system. 
 It was well for the world to know that there was a power 
 greater even than tyrant kings and cruel barons. It was 
 well for society to feel the force of a spiritual influence, 
 to listen to a voice that claimed to be of God, and learn 
 to recognize the rulership of conscience and heaven. It 
 was well for society, yes, its very salvation — that this 
 
344 T1I1 ' : C'OSPEL IN NA Tl RE. 
 
 strong influence speaking in the name of God was 
 exercised in behalf of the masses of mankind. It is true, 
 that oftentimes this was done not through a gentle ruth 
 and holy love, but simply from an ambitious policy 
 which sided with the commons in order to play them as 
 a check against nobles and kings. But God overruled 
 the wrath of man to his praise, and even with main- un- 
 lawful ambitions, selfish policies, and corrupt administra- 
 tions, the Church of Rome became a savoring element, 
 and rescued the race from a destruction into which titled 
 tyrants were riding it under whip and spur. 
 
 Soon the tide turned. Christianity became a govern- 
 ment not a Gospel, a ritual not a Voice, a system not a 
 Salvation, a policy not a Religion, a party not a Catholic 
 Faith. The Church lost its grip upon conscience, and 
 held men by their fears. Its rulers became corrupt, — 
 the salt had lost its savor, and once more general decay 
 seemed to threaten the human raee. Again Christianity 
 interposed. Luther the monk o\~ Erfurth came forth 
 from his Augustinian monastery; touched with one hand 
 the throne of Omnipotence, and with the other the heart 
 of that " invisible Church" which ever survives amidst 
 the visible Kingdom of Christ. Once more the saving 
 salt was thrown into the fountains of learning and of 
 common life, and the healing streams of the Reformation 
 rolled through the earth bearing upon theirbroad, health- 
 giving currents the hopes, thoughts, faiths, forces that 
 have made this new Christendom that now reigns in the 
 midst of a rediscovered world. 
 
 Thus it has always been, and thus it is to-day. The 
 religion of Jesus Christ is the salt of the earth. It lias 
 sweetened and purified the fountains of human life and 
 caused the lands through which it flows to put forth 
 beaut\- and fruitfulness. This is the truth which inspires 
 the efforts of the Church to send the Gospel to the 
 uttermost bounds of earth. We believe that the world 
 needs Christianity, that there is nothing to take its place 
 — nothing that can savor society and stay the progress 
 
 of decay except th.it holy faith which has made Our own 
 lives sweet with holy obedience ami bright with the hope 
 
 i<\ I leaven. 
 
THE SAL T OF THE EAR TH. 345 
 
 Stop ! Do not let your thought concerning the aggre- 
 gate divert you from the individual. You need saving 
 also, do you not ? Yes, that is a real necessity with 
 every soul. Did not Jesus always deal with souls from 
 that viewpoint ? Yes ! He ever took it for granted ; 
 He often declared it; He put it within the very tex- 
 ture of all his speech and conduct as an awful fact not 
 to be questioned, never to be concealed. " The Son of 
 man came to seek and save that which is lost." The 
 lost sheep of the shepherd, the lost coin of the house- 
 wife, the lost son of the good father, the lost soul of the 
 rich man — these are facts which Jesus dealt with in seri- 
 ous, loving, pitying faithfulness. What did He mean? 
 I do not know. You are lost ! You need saving ! I 
 know that ; I know that Christ is here to-day to save 
 you. Do you ask, "What shall I do to be saved?" 
 " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
 saved!" This is the one answer for all time, for all 
 souls, for you ! 
 
 V. Finally, we may learn from our text the Saving 
 Power of Christ. 
 
 A considerable portion of the salt of commerce is 
 prepared by evaporation of sea-water through artificial 
 means. But the more primitive method was wholly de- 
 pendent upon the fervor of the sun's rays. That primi- 
 tive method indeed has provided for us the chief sup- 
 plies which furnish the salt of commerce. The rock salt 
 found imbedded within the earth, and which is so exten- 
 sively mined for domestic use, bears evidence of having 
 been formed by the evaporation of lakes or seas at for- 
 mer and perhaps remote geological periods. The char- 
 acter of the crystals themselves, the stratified nature of 
 the deposits with their interposed beds of clay, and the 
 marine shells often occurring abundantly in the sur- 
 rounding rocks of contemporary periods, all point to 
 this simple solution of the presence of such vast quan- 
 tities of rock salt. The ancient convulsions of the soil 
 that shut off great bays or arms of the sea from the gen- 
 eral ocean, and left their waters in vast natural salt-pans 
 to evaporate beneath the rays of the sun and the action 
 
346 THE GOSPEL IX NATURE. 
 
 of the winds, have produced for us the masses of min- 
 eral salt. 
 
 Thus we have one more blessing to add to the sum of 
 indebtedness due to that venerable friend of man, the 
 sun. You already discern the trend of our metaphor. 
 Who is the Sun of Righteousness who rises upon this 
 earth of ours with healing in his wings? It is the Lord 
 Jesus! Well we know that it is by the power of Jesus 
 Christ alone that they who are of the faith are separated 
 from an unbelieving world and thus become in truth, as 
 Christ has called them, the salt of the earth. " By the 
 grace of God," said St. Paul, " I am what I am."* So 
 every Christian says. Not unto us, O Lord! not unto 
 us, but unto thy Name be all the glory. 
 
 Sinners ! whose love can ne'er forget 
 
 The wormwood and the gall, 
 Go spread your trophies at His feet, 
 
 And crown him Lord of All ! 
 
 Still shines that Sun of Love upon this ocean of hu- 
 manity seething and rolling in sin and death. Still the 
 power of Christ is exerted to separate you, and all who 
 will yield to the power of his grace, from the elements of 
 destruction, that you may become not only one of the 
 saved, but one of those who. as true salt of the earth, 
 shall savor others. 
 
 A religious significance was very earl}- attached to 
 salt, a substance so highly prized and often obtained 
 with so much difficulty. Homer called salt "divine." 
 Plato named it a "substance dear to the gods." As 
 covenants were ordinarily made over a sacrificial meal in 
 which salt was a necessary element, the expression "a 
 covenant of salt ''f meant an agreement consecrated by 
 sacrifice and therefore sacred. The preservative quali- 
 ties ^f salt were held to make it a peculiar and fitting 
 symbol of an enduring compact, and influenced the 
 choice of this particular element of the covenant meal as 
 that which was regarded as sealing an obligation to 
 fidelity. Among the ancients and among the Orientals 
 
 at the present day, every meal that included salt had a 
 
 *I. Cor. xv. io. t Num. xviii 
 
THE SAL T OF THE EAR TH 347 
 
 certain sacred character, and created a bond of piety and 
 guest friendship between the participants. 
 
 Christians who are the salt of the earth are witnesses 
 to that sacrifice of Calvary by which God's covenant 
 love was established and completed for the redemption 
 of a lost world. Every Church of Jesus abiding under 
 this covenant, proclaims God's faithfulness in Christ's 
 sacrifice. Every believer who hopes that he has been 
 saved by divine grace bears testimony before all who 
 know him of the power of that Sacrifice, the endurance 
 of that covenant, and the unbroken fidelity of that 
 promise by which salvation is brought to men. Oh 
 impenitent souls, receive this testimony! Listen to the 
 voice of this witnessing. Let every believing soul res- 
 cued from the power of sin, be an encouragement and 
 call to yield to the separating Force of the Sun of 
 Righteousness and Love, and ally yourselves with those 
 who shall be among the saved, and will join with the 
 saved to be " the salt of the earth." 
 
LECTURE XIX. 
 
 A Mans Natural Right 
 to Own Land. 
 
 "And thou hast said unto me, O Lord God, Buy 
 'thee the field for money and call witnesses." — Jere- 
 miah xxxii. 25. 
 
A MAN'S NATURAL RIGHT TO OWN LAND. 
 
 Simple truth and justice require me to dispel from 
 your minds at the very outset the confusion which 
 exists as to the relative character and standing of An- 
 archists and Communists. With the theories of Anarch- 
 ists we can have no measure of sympathy. Their 
 banner cry is the destruction of all government, the 
 annihilation of all the old sacred faiths, laws and cus- 
 toms of society. But this is not true of all communists. 
 There is a philosophy of Communism which is worthy 
 at least of our respect. It has had many forms which 
 have illustrated the law, the power and spirit of our 
 divine Lord ; — many advocates whose characters have 
 been beautiful and whose lives have been holy and useful. 
 It is a most ancient philosophy and, as we shall presently 
 see, has characterized a most ancient form of govern- 
 ment. The common right of the people to the land, 
 and the common usage thereof by the people, are as old 
 as the patriarchs of Bible story ; and some of those who 
 urge this principle and policy of government, as it seems 
 to me, are simply desirous of remanding humanity to 
 the estate of the patriarchs. Their ideal government is 
 the patriarchal government, a tribal government, and no 
 one can truthfully or seriously affirm, certainly no be- 
 liever in the Bible can do so, that such a policy and such 
 advocates are necessarily mischievous, unchristian and 
 wrong. 
 
 Moreover, it ought to be a matter of sincere satisfac- 
 tion and congratulation instead of the contrary, on the 
 part of those who believe that Communism even in its 
 purest form is impolitic and destructive of modern civil- 
 ization, that the discussion of the underlying principles 
 at issue has passed from the lips of ignorant men, de- 
 signing and self-seeking charlatans and demagogues, to 
 men whose character for purity, honesty and sincerity 
 
 (351) 
 
352 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 of purpose and desire to benefit mankind are beyond 
 question. I hail with pleasure, and not with regret, the 
 fact that there has recently stood amongst us as an ad- 
 vocate of these views a learned gentleman, a clergyman 
 of a venerable communion, whose character and career 
 have heretofore highly illustrated the virtues of the man 
 and the minister. While the leaders of Communism are 
 men such as he, we may all be inspired with the hope 
 that the issue shall be remanded from the sphere of mere 
 brute conflict, to the loftier and nobler arena of intel- 
 lectual discussion and moral truth. There let us seek 
 to keep it. The question must be met. We cannot put 
 down by the strong hand of cruelty the men who hold 
 to Communism in land, even though they be mistaken. 
 Mere dogmatism, threats, assertion and reassertion will 
 not prevail. We must convince the judgment, if not of 
 those already enlisted, at least of the multitude who are 
 turning now an open ear to the witchery of their enti- 
 cing theories. Under a profound conviction that this is 
 the duty of the leaders of thought, I have purposed this 
 day to consider the subject of the right of individuals 
 to own land. 
 
 The fundamental principle of Communism is that land 
 belongs to the people, and that it should be held by the 
 government of the people for the people's use and be- 
 hoof without distribution to individuals to be held by 
 them in fee. In other words, that the ownership of land 
 is a natural and common right, like the ownership of 
 sunlight, air and water. 
 
 To justify the opinion expressed that those who hold 
 such views are entitled to consideration, I would simply 
 call attention to the fact that in one form or another the 
 doctrine forms the basis of many of our laws regarding 
 the tenure of land. In our own country a vast quantity 
 of the land, "the public domain," belongs to the Govern- 
 ment, and the greater portion of that now held by indi- 
 viduals was originally distributed by the Government. 
 The Homestead Law grants in severalty to every actual 
 settler one hundred and sixty acres of this common do- 
 main. The first settlers in New England carried with 
 them the idea of the village commune. They decreed 
 
A MAN'S NATURAL RIGHT TO OWN LAND. 353 
 
 a grant of land to each householder to the extent of 
 twenty acres. Of the rest of the land a portion was to 
 be held in common. The right of "eminent domain" 
 pertains to the General Government, and indeed, to the 
 local State Government, by which any property may be 
 seized and set apart for common use. We hold in 
 Philadelphia a large portion of the land in common, for 
 the streets belong to the people for egress and ingress 
 from and to their own homes, and for carrying out the 
 common purposes of human life. The city may le- 
 gally and often does condemn lands, burial places, 
 houses, churches to the common use in order to estab- 
 lish roadways. Our squares and parks are held in com- 
 mon for the use, entertainment and invigoration of all 
 the people. 
 
 We recognize this idea in those laws that prohibit or 
 limit the right of entailing property, the law against 
 accumulations, the law forbidding perpetuities. In 
 Great Britain this principle is very strongly exhibited in 
 the land laws. In fact, it is an undisputed maxim of 
 English as well as of Scottish law that the sovereign is 
 supreme lord of all the land. It is an unquestionable 
 legal rule that there is no such thing in the British 
 system as an absolute private right of property in 
 land, but that the State alone is vested with that 
 right, and concedes to the individual possessor only a 
 strictly defined subordinate right subject to conditions 
 from time to time imposed by the community. The 
 nearest approach to private property permitted by the 
 laws of Scotland is that by which " subordinate vas- 
 sals " may convey themselves into "direct vassals" 
 of the crown. Among the Celtic tribes of Ireland 
 and the Scottish clans, even down to modern times, land 
 was the possession of the tribe or the clan. The 
 chief was the leader, but not the owner. In our own 
 day and country this nation has recognized time and 
 again this principle of village or tribal communes in its 
 treaties with the various Indian nations. So that this law 
 is a part of our legal system in so far as it applies to the 
 aborigines of the soil. In view of such facts we must 
 recognize the truth that there is much in history and law 
 
354 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 to be said for the fundamental principle of modern com- 
 munism. Thus much being granted,. let us turn to the 
 question whether it be contrary to natural justice for the 
 individual to become possessor of land in fee, that is as 
 his property, to be held and handed down to his heirs ? 
 
 I. First, then, it maybe claimed that natural justice 
 bears at least as strongly in favor of individual as of 
 communal tenure of land, and that in the controversy 
 human and Divine law must settle the question of 
 right. 
 
 It is affirmed that individual right in property is con- 
 trary to natural justice. It is affirmed with the same 
 breath that the community, village, state or nation may 
 and should parcel out the land to its citizens according 
 to the various necessities of the same ; these homes and 
 lands to be held simply at the will of the Government. 
 In short, individual citizens become tenants-at-will of 
 the aggregate of citizens, which is the State. But it 
 seems to me that natural justice is as surely violated by 
 communal as by individual land ownership. It simply 
 changes the scale, not the essential principle, to vest the 
 tenure in a village or state commune. For Nature is 
 not communistic, but cosmopolitan. Does not natural 
 justice declare, with equal force, that when a govern- 
 ment of American citizens shall have thus adjusted the 
 communal property, there may come from across the 
 sea a million of exiled Englishmen and Irishmen and 
 assert their right to share with those already in posses- 
 sion ? Why should not natural justice give them a 
 share? for they, too, are men, and Nature includes all 
 men. When our English and Irish friends are thus 
 settled, what again shall hinder an irruption of the peo- 
 ples of Northern Europe, the Germanic nations that 
 flocked of old to Italy, from crossing the sea and mak- 
 ing the same claim of partition of property on the 
 ground of natural justice? For, are they not men? 
 And Nature is as broad as humanity. Still further, 
 what is to hinder the hordes of China from flocking 
 across the Pacific Sea through the Golden Gate and 
 over the Transcontinental Railways, and making a like 
 
A MAN'S NA TURAL RIGHT TO O WN LAND. 355 
 
 demand of Irish, English, German, and American occu- 
 pants of the soil ? If our standard be so-called natural 
 justice, interpreted by the canons of communism, is it 
 not manifest that the laws controlling property must be 
 made as broad as Nature, and so take in the whole race ? 
 Is it not manifest to the least logical mind that a law 
 which limits the partition of land for usage and occupa- 
 tion to the citizens of any nation, State, or community 
 has just as clearly violated the law of "natural justice" 
 as have those nations and people who dispose of their 
 sovereignty in the land for a consideration to families or 
 individuals, to be held as theirs in fee? If Citizen 
 Smith may not justly own a house or farm for himself, 
 his family and heirs, with what color of natural justice 
 may forty Citizens Smith form a corporation or com- 
 mune and own houses and lands for themselves, their 
 families and heirs, as against all the rest of the human 
 race ? 
 
 In a case such as we have supposed where shall the 
 limit come ? Would not the inevitable result of such a 
 reign of communism be to remand man to the savage es- 
 tate where the law of the mightiest and the most numer- 
 ous prevails? Would it not give strong nations and 
 the most populous nations the right to unsettle and de- 
 stroy from the face of the earth the weak or sparse peo- 
 ples ? 
 
 There is a law of natural justice which is sanctioned 
 also by the law of the Holy God, that reads thus, " He 
 that provideth not for his own, especially those of his 
 own household, has denied the faith and is worse than 
 an infidel."* Nature in man compels him to secure for 
 himself, his wife and offspring a retreat that shall be in- 
 deed a refuge against the injustice, selfishness, aggres- 
 sions, the ignorance or misfortunes of their fellows. 
 There is nothing in this law when rightly used and not 
 abused that hinders him from the largest charity and 
 consideration for his fellow-men. For the same Divine 
 Spirit that gave this law, based upon Nature, gave also 
 another law, "As ye would that men should do to you, 
 do ye also to them likewise."f 
 
 I. Tim. v. S. | Luke vi. 
 
 3i- 
 
356 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 II. Second, we find this right strongly implied, at 
 least, in the Original Constitution bestowed on man by 
 his Creator when he was placed in possession of the 
 earth. "And God blessed them ; and God said unto 
 them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, 
 and subdue it ; and have dominion over the fish of the 
 sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living 
 thing that moveth upon the earth." :|: 
 
 There is no question, so far as I am aware, of the right 
 of men to individual property in the beasts, the only lim- 
 itation being those conditions which Nature has imposed. 
 For example, personal ownership of the horse, ox, sheep, 
 dog, camel, chicken, goose, duck and other creatures 
 classed as domestic animals has never been questioned. 
 Is there any living man to-day who would venture to 
 rise in the midst of this or any other community to ques- 
 tion the absolute right of the carter or drayman to his 
 horse, or the farmer to his herds and flocks; to dispose 
 of them and their products according to his will ? Who 
 would challenge the laws that secure men in their own- 
 ership of these creatures ? The wild animals and wild 
 fowls, it is true, are not protected by law as property 
 except when they are killed in lawful chase and in those 
 lands where parks and preserves for game are maintain- 
 ed. We exercise and claim no owership of the wasp, 
 the mosquito or the spider, for these have never yet 
 been utilized by man for his service, but among insects 
 the bee and silk moth become property, because they 
 have been made useful servants of the human race. 
 
 Now it seems to me that the analogy here holds good. 
 
 If we can claim rightfully that the divine constitution, 
 by which man was made natural lord of the beasts of 
 forest and field, and the fowls of the air, gave him per- 
 sonal ownership of those creatures, by parity of reason- 
 ing the same constitution gives him like property rights 
 in the earth, which these creatures inhabit, and which at 
 the same time was bestowed upon him to subdue and 
 rule. The only limitation must be the power of man to 
 subdue beneath his law and hand. If we be told that the 
 land is a natural gift of God, like the ocean highways, the 
 
 *Gen. i. 28. 
 
A MAN'S NA TURAL RIGHT TO O WN LAND. 357 
 
 air and sunlight, we answer that man cannot subdue and 
 portion the great seas, the air of heaven, and the sun- 
 light, but he can subdue, and parcel, and possess the 
 land. Just as Natural Justice, and the instincts of hu- 
 man nature, and the outcome of human nature in its 
 long experience, justify him in casting the segis of own- 
 ership over those creatures who can be subdued to 
 domestic use, while those who cannot be are left as out- 
 lawed, so land which can be held and possessed by him, 
 may lawfully, justly and naturally become his for indi- 
 vidual holding and use. 
 
 But we do not stop with this reasoning, strong as it is, 
 by analogy and inference from the original natural con- 
 ditions of man's inauguration as chief magistrate of the 
 earth. We pass on to show that the divine constitution 
 was early recognized by the patriarchs and fathers of the 
 faith, and has the fullest sanction of the Holy Spirit 
 speaking in the word of God. 
 
 III. We find individual ownership of land at the very 
 Beginning of Commercial Life as recorded by the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 The first account of an actual purchase and sale 
 recorded in the Scripture is the purchase of a plot of 
 ground by Abraham. "And Abraham hearkened unto 
 Ephron ; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, 
 which he had named in the audience of the children of 
 Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money 
 with the merchant. So the field of Ephron, which was 
 in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and 
 the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were 
 in the field, that were in all the border thereof round- 
 about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession 
 in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that 
 went in at the gate of his city."* In this glance at the 
 condition of land tenure in primitive times we observe 
 two facts : the first, that the common possession of land 
 evidently obtained amongst the children of Heth; sec- 
 ond, that this did not prevent them from absolute sale 
 of a portion to Abraham to be held by him and his suc- 
 cessors for the uses to which it was devoted. 
 
 *Gen. xxiii. 16-18. 
 
358 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 It is a touching and significant expression of a natural 
 sentiment which has dominated men in every age, that 
 the first example of barter and ownership in land should 
 have been that of a sepulchre for the beloved dead. Are 
 we prepared at this date to raise the question, Has a 
 man a right to own a grave ? 
 
 IV. Again, a study of the Agrarian Laws of Moses 
 clearly shows as a part of Hebrew jurisprudence the 
 principle of individual ownership of land. 
 
 After a long period of bondage in Egypt Moses was 
 commissioned by God to lead out the Israelites from 
 their land of bondage to the land of promise. When 
 the land had been conquered by Joshua it was divided 
 among the people by allotment. An enumeration of the 
 Hebrew yeomen showed that there were six hundred 
 and one thousand seven hundred and thirty persons who 
 were entitled to an allotment. "And the Lord spake 
 unto Moses, saying, Unto these the land shall be divided 
 for an inheritance according to the number of names. 
 To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance, and 
 to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance ; to every 
 one according to those that were numbered of him shall 
 his inheritance be given." ;: This land the people held 
 independent of all temporal superiors by direct tenure 
 from Jehovah their Sovereign. 
 
 This right was established and secured in perpetuity 
 by a remarkable law known popularly as the law of the 
 year of Jubilee. On every Sabbatic year, if the land had 
 been alienated from the possessor, it was to revert to the 
 families which originally possessed it. "Then shalt thou 
 send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the 
 seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye send 
 abroad the trumpet throughout your land. And ye 
 shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty 
 throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it 
 shall be a jubilee unto you ; and ye shall return every 
 man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man 
 unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be 
 unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which 
 
 * Num. xxvi. 52-54. 
 
A MAN'S NATURAL RIGHT TO OWN LAND. 359 
 
 groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the 
 undressed vines."* 
 
 The purpose of this law doubtless was to maintain the 
 perpetuity of land in small holdings among the people. 
 It was a guard against monopoly; a law in favor of 
 equality in land tenure. To render this equality solid 
 and lasting the tenure was made inalienable, and the 
 estates thus originally settled upon every family were to 
 descend by an indefeasible entail in perpetual succession. 
 Certainly it had the tendency to equalize possessions 
 among the people, making extreme poverty and over- 
 grown riches alike impossible.f It gave to every member 
 of the body politic an interest in the soil, and so also in 
 the maintenance of public order and the supremacy of 
 law, — an interest which he had not even the power to part 
 with permanently. It made the virtues of industry and 
 frugality necessary elements in every man's character, so 
 that labor was as honorable amongst the Hebrews as it 
 has ever been in America, — asentiment which is expressed 
 by St. Paul in his well-known saying, "If any man will 
 not work, neither shall he eat."| Under such a polity 
 as this it was impossible that a few could revel in the 
 enjoyment of immense fortunes, while the multitudes 
 suffered lack of the common necessities of life. Entailed 
 misery became well nigh impossible, for the power of 
 heredity was broken by the return of the year of jubilee 
 before it could fix upon the children of the alienated 
 landholder the impress and stamp of pauperism. The 
 hand of this Hebrew government was laid with equal 
 beneficence upon all. 
 
 No doubt this law, independent of considerations of 
 individual happiness, had regard to the maintenance of 
 religion and the perpetuity of the Hebrew common- 
 wealth. The possession of property fixed the people to 
 the soil. The devotion to agriculture separated them 
 from the ambition of war. Seated among their mountain 
 heights, like the thrifty citizens of the Swiss republic in 
 our own day, on the great highway between Egypt to 
 the south, and Nineveh and Babylon and Syria to the 
 
 * Lev. xxv. 8-11. t Wines — "Laws of the Ancient Hebrews," 
 page 403. % II. Thess. lii. 10. 
 
3-60 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 east and north of them, they had the strongest induce- 
 ment to maintain their independence. ' Every individual 
 was bound by law to do military duty. No standing 
 army was required, but, like our own militia laws, the 
 Hebrew code required every yeoman, at the summons 
 of the head of the government, to rally under his own 
 legitimate chiefs and leaders to defend his altars, his 
 hearthstone and his little farm. In short, the policy 
 seems to have been just the reverse of that which, as we 
 learn from Caesar,* prevailed amongst the ancient Ger- 
 mans, who discouraged agriculture, permitted no fixed 
 quantity of land in severalty, or boundaries of property, 
 but assigned to communities and families at frequent 
 periods such spots for homes as were thought suitable, 
 in order to weaken their hold upon domestic life, and 
 nurture and maintain within them the habit and love of 
 war. Whatever may have been the purpose,, the fact re- 
 mains that under sanctions of Jehovah, Moses, the great 
 lawgiver of the Hebrews, bestowed upon individuals 
 property in land. 
 
 An interesting exception was made under the general 
 law of Jubilee as to nouses in towns, which if not re- 
 deemed within one year were alienated forever.f The 
 purpose, or at least the tendency of such a provision 
 would be to discourage an abnormal development of 
 city life, and to maintain the advantage of rural and agri- 
 cultural habits. A sort of quit-rent was required of all 
 landholders, to be paid to the divine proprietor in tithes, 
 or the tenths, which was used to maintain the govern- 
 ing, literal')-, pedagogic, and priestly class, the whole 
 tribe of Levi being set apart to these special functions, 
 and being debarred from the general allotment and own- 
 ership of land which fell to tin- other tribes. 
 
 This provision of the Mosaic code strikes us as the 
 more significant in view of the fact that the Israelites in 
 Egypt must have been accustomed to an entirely differ- 
 ent law and mode. A glance at the administration of 
 Joseph when he was premier of Egypt, will show us that 
 individual ownership of lands largely prevailed among 
 the Egyptians, but during the years of famine of which 
 
 ■■ I ><j IV-ll. (",.ii-, chapter VI. + Lev. xxv. 29, 30. 
 
A MAN'S NA TURAL RIGHT TO O WN LAND. 36 1 
 
 we have a record in the book of Genesis, the lands were 
 sold to the sovereign for corn, and thus became the pro- 
 perty of the state. This common tenure largely pre- 
 vailed, so far as we can learn, among the Egyptians, and 
 it would seem that in the land of Goshen the Israelites 
 maintained their position as tenants-at-will of the gov- 
 ernment, or if you please of the Pharaoh, the head of the 
 government. They had, in short, the full benefit of com- 
 munism during the friendly dynasty under which they 
 had been introduced into Egypt, and all the terrible dis- 
 advantages of the system under the administration of a 
 king " which knew not Joseph." With these four cen- 
 turies or more experienceof communism, and under the 
 leadership of Moses, a man who was learned in all the 
 wisdom of the Egyptians, it certainly is significant, and 
 casts an immense fullness of side-light upon the question 
 we are considering, that these liberated bondmen received 
 from Jehovah their Lord a constitution based on indi- 
 vidual ownership of land, and maintained it through all 
 the following generations. 
 
 Is not this this the inevitable tendency of races as 
 they rise in civilization? Among our own populations 
 the principle of land communism is well illustrated in 
 the customs of the American Indians. But those who 
 best know the necessities of the red men, see the only 
 hope for their assured future in the rejection of tribal 
 possessions of land, and acceptance of the practice of 
 ownership in severalty, as it exists among white men. 
 Surely, we shall not be persuaded to take up and wear 
 the " cast-off clothes " which our national wards, as they 
 mount into a higher civilization, are leaving behind them 
 with other trammels of a savage estate ? 
 
 V. The views of the Holy Scripture concerning Land- 
 marks is an evidence that the Divine law sanctions and 
 protects the individual tenure of land. 
 
 In the book of Job, we read condemnation of those 
 who remove the landmarks.* " Thou shalt not remove 
 thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have 
 set, in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit, in 
 
 *Job xxiv. 2. 
 
362 THE GOSPEL IN NA TURE. 
 
 the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to pos- 
 sess it," : ' was one of the statutes of the Israelites. This 
 was surrounded by the sanctions of religion. On that 
 day when the people were placed one half upon the 
 slopes of Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and the 
 other upon Mount Ebal to curse the people, among the 
 very first of those violators of the law upon whom the 
 awful maledictions of Jehovah were invoked, we find 
 those who destroy the boundary marks. " Cursed be he 
 that removeth his neighbor's landmark. And all the peo- 
 ple shall say, Amen."f This idea of the religious sanc- 
 tion of the boundary lines of the people we see pre- 
 served in the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome. 
 The god Hermes or Mercury* being himself messenger 
 of the gods, it became his office to aid messengers and 
 travelers, and to this end it was he who inspired the 
 idea of erecting sign-posts at cross-roads with directions 
 as to whither each road led. These sign-posts took the 
 form of statues, if they may be so called, consisting of 
 pillars running narrower towards the foot and sur- 
 mounted by the head of Hermes, and were called 1 [ermae. 
 This name Hermae or Terminii, belonged also to the 
 field boundaries, which were under the protection of the 
 same deity, Mercury.J 
 
 VI. Moreover, we know that this law of possession 
 and inheritance was not of Transitory Life. It did not 
 become a dead letter upon the statutes of Israel. It re- 
 ceived tlie sanction of prophets, priests, legislators, and 
 rulers in the succeeding ages of the nation. 
 
 An illustration of this occurred in the reign of Ahab. 
 This sovereign had a fancy tor landscape gardening, and 
 desired a vineyard belonging to a neighbor named 
 Naboth to piece out his own property and add t>> the 
 beaut)' of his park. Naboth refused to sell or exchange 
 his vineyard on the ground that it was contrary to the 
 law for him to alienate the inheritance of his lathers. 
 The sovereign could not conceal his disappointment, 
 and his wife Jezebel the queen, less scrupulous than 
 
 Deut. \i\. 14- f Dcut. x.wii. 17. % Murray — " Manual My- 
 thology," 126. 
 
A MAN'S NATURAL RIGHT TO OWN LAND. 363 
 
 Ahab, and indignant that the king should be thwarted 
 by a common citizen, concocted a scheme by which 
 under false charges Naboth was condemned, slain and 
 his vineyard escheated to the state. When the sturdy 
 citizen was stoned to death Ahab rounded out his pleas- 
 ure park with the stolen vineyard. 
 
 But the matter was not so to end. The Eternal Jus- 
 tice, Sovereign of Israel as of all lands, had somewhat 
 to say in this case. " And the word of the Lord came 
 to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet 
 Ahab the king of Israel. Behold, he is in the vineyard 
 of Naboth, whither he has gone down to take possession 
 of it." I will not repeat the story. You may read it 
 for yourselves in the twenty-first chapter of the first 
 Book of Kings. I have simply to call your attention to 
 the fact that the prophet of God, in obedience to the 
 divine command, found Ahab on his stolen possession; 
 declared to him the wickedness of his course and pre- 
 dicted his violent death, adding, with a striking sense of 
 the eternal fitness, that " in the place where dogs licked 
 the blood of Naboth, shall the dogs lick thy blood, even 
 thine." There can be no question that in this case Na- 
 both did right, that the law of Israel maintained him in 
 possession of his property ; that that right was so sacred 
 and secured that not even the sovereign on his throne 
 could overcome it, and dispossess the humble citizen of 
 his property ; and finally, that the Almighty God here 
 also gave the sanction of His authority to the act of 
 Naboth and the principle upon which he stood. 
 
 We take another case to show the vitality of this law 
 and the fact that the individual possession and purchase 
 of property were sanctioned by God. Our illustration 
 carries us to a late period in the history of the Hebrew 
 monarchy, under the reign of Zedekiah, nearly six hun- 
 dred years before the era of Christ. The sacred city of 
 Jerusalem was besieged by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 king of Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah was a prisoner 
 in the house of the king of Judah, having been shut up 
 because he had predicted the capture of the city and 
 the captivity of the people. In such condition anything 
 like a transaction in real estate, one would think, would 
 
364 THE GOSPEL IX NA TL 'RE. 
 
 have been the last thought to enter the prophet's mind. 
 Vet we have such a record as this ; " .And Jeremiah said, 
 The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Ik-hold, 
 Hanamel, the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come 
 unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: 
 for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. So Han- 
 amel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the 
 guard according to the word of the Lord, and said unto 
 me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which 
 is in the land of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance 
 is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. 
 Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. And 
 I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel 
 mine uncle's son, and weighed him the money, even sev- 
 enteen shekels of silver. And I subscribed the deed, 
 and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the 
 money in the balances. So I took the deed of the pur- 
 chase, both that which was sealed, according to the law 
 and custom, and that which was open: and I delivered 
 up the deed of the purchase unto Baruch the son of 
 Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Han- 
 amel mine uncle's son, and in the presence of the wit- 
 nesses that subscribed to the deed of the purchase, be- 
 fore all the Jews that sat in the court of the guard. And 
 I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus saith the 
 Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this 
 deed of the purchase, both that which is sealed, and this 
 deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel ; 
 for they may continue many days. For thus saith the 
 Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields 
 and vineyards shall yet again be benight in this land."* 
 
 I have cited the entire passage, as it has Mich a clear 
 bearing upon the question at issue that he may read 
 who runs, and a wayfaring man though a fool need not 
 err therein. Now this passage has always been regarded 
 as one of the subtimest acts of faith on the part of I I 
 ancient servant The prophet was a prisoner. The 
 country was overrun by an invading foe. Hostile armies 
 were thundering at the gates of the capital, and Jere- 
 miah knew that the city would surely be captured and 
 
 *Jer. xxxii. 6-15. 
 
A MAN'S NATURAL RIGHT TO OWN LAND. 365 
 
 the people scattered as captives. Yet he so trusted the 
 word of his God that he believed that, notwithstanding 
 the circumstances surrounding him, in some after day 
 the promise would be redeemed and once more there 
 should be that token of prosperity, peace, and religious 
 revival expressed in the closing verse of the section 
 quoted : " For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of 
 Israel : Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again 
 be bought in this land." 
 
 The theologian who takes the ground that the pur- 
 chase and possession of land as property by the indi- 
 vidual is wrong — contrary to natural justice and so also 
 contrary to the word of God, is bound to explain this 
 section. He is under obligation to show how the pro- 
 phet could have acted as he did. He is bound to ex- 
 plain why the Church in all ages has esteemed this con- 
 duct one of the sublimest acts of faith, that esteem being 
 based, as is alleged, upon behavior contrary to natural 
 righteousness. 
 
 Further and above all, he is bound to explain how, in ac- 
 cordance with his theory, the Almighty God should make 
 such a command to Jeremiah. That he did make the com- 
 mand isasserted directly again and again, both in the narra- 
 tive and in that touching and wonderful prayer of the pro- 
 phet which follows the completion of the business trans- 
 action. We find the fact put in these words : " And thou 
 hast said unto me, O Lord God, buy thee the field for 
 money and call witnesses, whereas the city is given into 
 the hand of the Chaldeans." * You observe that Jeremiah 
 felt in his heart that the Lord owed to him some explana- 
 tion of this strange command under such apparently un- 
 reasonable circumstances, and the Almighty vouchsafed 
 the explanation. We read further in the chapter and in the 
 course of the communication given to the prophet, this 
 divine assurance : " Fields shall be bought in this land 
 whereof we say it is desolate without man or beast ; it is 
 given into the hands of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy 
 fields for money and subscribe deeds and seal them and 
 call witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places 
 about Jerusalem and in the cities about Judah, and in 
 
 * Verse 25. 
 
366 THE GOSPEL IX NA Tl T RE. 
 
 the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the low- 
 land and in the cities of the south, for I will cause their 
 capitivity to return, saith the Lord."* Now, can any 
 theologian, can any clear-minded reader of the Holy 
 Scriptures explain how, in face of such divine sanctions, 
 it becomes contrary to righteousness and justice for men 
 to do like things in these days in the cities and vineyards, 
 in the hill countries and valleys of* America or any 
 other land ? 
 
 Verses 43, 44. 
 
LECTURE XX. 
 
 May a Christian Own Land? 
 
 " Whiles it remained, was it not thine oxen?" — 
 Acts v. 4. 
 
MAY A CHRISTIAN OWN LAND ? 
 
 We are to examine in this lecture what may be re- 
 garded the crucial point in the discussion of a man's 
 right to own land. It may be said, it has often been 
 said, all the regulations heretofore considered belong to 
 the Old Testament dispensation. " The old things are 
 passed away; behold, they are become new."* What- 
 ever may have been lawful for the Jew (it is asserted), it 
 is not permitted a Christian to own land. The spirit 
 of Christ and the deeds and decrees of the apostles and 
 Primitive Church sanctioned land communism, and on 
 that ground we may advocate it to-day. 
 
 I may be permitted to say, first, that there are some 
 old things that in the sense of the saying quoted never 
 will become new ; or rather let me change the expres- 
 sion and assert that there are old things which are for- 
 ever new by the spirit of eternal life that lodges within 
 them. Nature is one of those old things — old ! no one 
 knows how old. New! every one who will seek her 
 smiling face upon a bright May morning, or consult her 
 mysteries in the midst of winter snows and storms, will 
 find how sweetly or how keenly fresh she is to-day, as 
 she has always been. Human nature is old, but human 
 nature is new also, as new to-day as when it fell a virgin 
 creature from the Creator's hand. What human nature 
 was in the garden of Eden, in the desert of Sinai, 
 among the hills of Palestine, in the vineyard of Naboth, 
 in the prison of Zedekiah's palace, it is to-day and al- 
 ways will be. That justice which belongs to human 
 nature, and which is natural justice, is unchangeable, 
 and whatever laws and principles based thereupon have 
 been established as of God by reasonable inference are 
 binding to-day with a force as fresh as when first they 
 were laid within the constitutions of the human mind. 
 
 *II. Cor. v. 17. 
 
 (369) 
 
3;o THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 But we accept the challenge, and turn now to that 
 period of the New Testament Church from which nearly 
 all Christian communes have obtained their supposed 
 authority for their organization and regulation. In the 
 fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, at the thirty- 
 second verse we thus read: "And the multitude of them 
 that believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of 
 them said that aught of the things he possessed was his 
 own, but they had all things in common." " And with 
 great power gave the apostles their witness of the resur- 
 rection of the Lord Jesus : and great grace was upon 
 them all. For neither was there among them any that 
 lacked : for as many as were possessors of lands or 
 houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things 
 that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet: and 
 distribution was made unto each, according as any one 
 had need."* 
 
 Here now is an undoubted case of communism. This 
 is the ideal communistic society, a holy company of be- 
 lievers so dedicated to the service of God, and the dis- 
 semination of their new faith, and the welfare of human- 
 ity, that they voluntarily resigned all possessions and 
 made a common fund. Does not this constitute a repeal 
 of all the laws and usages of the past? Does not this 
 give the sanction of the Primitive Church to a state and 
 organization like that which is advocated by many mod- 
 ern communists? We must meet the question. 
 
 I. Undoubtedly the Church, particularly in the Latin 
 and Greek communions, has always extended the sanction 
 of its great authority to the existence of suchcommunities, 
 but you will observe first of all, that they were simply 
 forms of Christian fellowship, not of civil government; 
 they were integral portions of the Church, not of the 
 State. The very foundation principle of the State, the 
 family, was wanting, for they almost invariably took the 
 form of communes of one sex, the result bring commu- 
 nities of monks on the one hand and nuns on the other. 
 Sometimes, as in the case of our modern Shakers, 
 
 *Acts iv. ,v,-35. 
 
MA Y A CHRISTIAN O WN LAND ? 37 1 
 
 Economites, and similar communistic families, the sexes 
 wrought, fed, and worshiped together as a common 
 family of brothers and sisters, but in the practice of celi- 
 bacy. 
 
 2. My second answer is that there is not a word in the 
 positive precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ or of any of 
 the New Testament writers ordaining the existence of 
 such communities or such state of general society. The 
 attitude of our Lord Jesus Christ on this subject is 
 worthy of remark. He raised no contention with the 
 old order of things. He announced no principle that by 
 necessary and logical inference would overthrow that 
 order. He mingled continually with those who pos- 
 sessed landed property, and although he was free to de- 
 nounce oppressors of the poor and despoilers of the 
 widow, no word fell from his lips censuring owners of 
 land. 
 
 It would seem from the Gospels that among his closest 
 friends and sincerest disciples were those who occupied 
 homes of their own. He accepted the hospitality of 
 these and other householders with the utmost freedom, 
 and with never a suggestion of disfavor or rebuke. His 
 favorite retreat when at Jerusalem was the beautiful home 
 of Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary on Mount 
 Olivet. To this delightful suburban retreat he continu- 
 ally and lovingly resorted after the wearying toils and 
 vexing contentions of a day's teaching in the Holy City. 
 Can we suppose that these beloved Bethany friends were 
 guilty of wrong or impropriety in their ownership of 
 their Bethany home, and that our blessed Lord received 
 therein from them the sweets and solace of hospitality 
 without a word or seemingly a thought of protest or re- 
 buke ? We cannot think it. 
 
 Among the apostles of Jesus was John, a friend of 
 the High Priest, who owned " his own house." * The 
 original expression f need not imply that John had a 
 house in Jerusalem, but certainly does show that his 
 usual habitation was fixed, and zvas his own.% When the 
 
 *John xix. 27. f dg raidia. J Vide Alford's Greek Testament 
 in loc. 
 
372 THE GOSPEL IN NA Ti RE. 
 
 Master hung upon the cross in the agonies of dissolu- 
 tion it was to this disciple, the beloved John, that he 
 committed the care of his mother. It would almost 
 appear that the fact of John's ownership of a home in 
 which that venerated mother might fittingly be shel- 
 tered, was the one which decided the choice and action 
 of Jesus in committing the Virgin Mary to this disci- 
 ple's care. 
 
 Can we permit ourselves the thought that He who in 
 the last moments of his life wrought such a work as 
 this, could have known that the house in which his 
 mother should find a safe retreat for the closing days 
 of her life, was held by a law and tenure contrary 
 to natural justice and Divine right? The thought is 
 utterly inadmissible! It is true indeed that this evi- 
 dence concerning our Lord's attitude towards the 
 question of personal ownership of land is largely of a 
 negative character; and yet there are circumstances 
 under which such testimony has all the weight of the 
 most positive witnessing. At all events, it is clearly 
 manifest that the teaching and example of Jesus Christ 
 cannot be quoted against the right of individual owner- 
 ship of land. 
 
 3. In the third place, the action of the primitive 
 Christians was voluntary. It has the force of example, 
 it is true, but that is no further authority than the rea- 
 sonableness of the example under similar circumstances 
 may bestow. There are other actions of the apostles 
 and primitive Christians, many of them, indeed, which 
 we study with interest for the sake of their underlying 
 principles, but which no one has ever thought to have 
 the sanction of Divine authority, or to be of moral 
 obligation to the people of these days. 
 
 4. But in the fourth place, and this is conclusive, we 
 find in the direct utterance of St. Peter, the first of 
 the Apostles, a clear renunciation of any purpose to 
 annul the laws of property. In the fifth chapter of the 
 Acts of the Apostles occurs the well-known incident of 
 the punishment which fell upon Ananias and Sapphira 
 
MA r A CHRISTIAN O WN LAND ? 373 
 
 for a breach of faith, good-fellowship and truth. The 
 incident briefly is this : Ananias and his wife sold a pos- 
 session, that is a field, as the Greek indicates, claiming 
 to have given the proceeds to the common fund, but 
 they privily kept back a part of the money. When they 
 brought this to the apostles their hypocritical conduct 
 was uncovered by St. Peter, who addressed the false 
 Ananias in these words, " Why hath Satan filled thy 
 heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and keep back part of 
 the price of the land ? Whiles it remained did it not 
 remain thine own ? and after it was sold was it not in 
 thy power?" 
 
 Do you discern the force of these words of St. Peter ? 
 Here is the most undoubted recognition and assertion 
 by the apostle of the fact that while the field of Ananias 
 was unsold it was his own ! Even after the price of the 
 land had been paid, and before it was given to the apos- 
 tles, still, says Peter, " it was in thy power." The right 
 of property only ceased when it was given into the treas- 
 ury of the Church. The hypocrisy and falsehood of 
 the man and woman were the sins punished. It was the 
 claim on their part, before God and His Church, to a 
 virtue which they did not possess, that excited the indig- 
 nation of St. Peter, and brought down upon them disci- 
 pline and the judgment of Heaven, not the violation of a 
 communal law. It is inconceivable under the circum- 
 stances, as related, that the law of the Primitive Church 
 required every member to dispossess himself of his prop- 
 erty in land. On the contrary we here have the very 
 highest authority, namely, the apostle Peter, speaking 
 by the Holy Ghost, for the belief that Christians could 
 lawfully retain lands, even as before their conversion. To 
 those theologians who recognize St. Peter as the first 
 Pope and head of the Church, it seems to me that this 
 assertion ought to come with all the force of an ex-ca- 
 thedra, and therefore an infallible utterance of the Church 
 of Jesus Christ sanctioning the right of the individual 
 believer to own land. " Whiles it remained was it not 
 thine own ? " 
 
 It is perhaps well to answer the question, Then why 
 did the apostles encourage this community of goods ? 
 
374 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 The answer is obvious. The majority of the first be- 
 lievers in Jerusalem were poor; though many, like 
 Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, and the family 
 at Bethany, and Mary the mother of Mark, and St. 
 John himself, were possessors of more or less proper- 
 ty. This Christian community was established in the 
 very heart of the Jewish capital, under the shadow of 
 the temple and within the environing prejudice, big- 
 otry and hatred excited by sanhedrists and priests 
 against the sect of the Nazarene. Those who know to 
 what extent this spirit of caste was carried will under- 
 stand at once that the condition of the poor and humble 
 believers must have been a sad one indeed. They would 
 have been utterly cut off from the means of support ; so 
 entirely tabooed .or " boycotted," to use the modern well- 
 known phrase, that no one would buy from them, or sell 
 to them, or employ them, or even greet them upon the 
 streets. It was therefore necessary that those who had 
 aught should contribute to the support of those who for 
 the sake of the faith were thus cut off from a livelihood. 
 In short, it was Christian love waging its first battle 
 against caste. It was the spirit of Christian brotherhood 
 rising supreme over selfishness, and making willing sac- 
 rifice in behalf of the brethren of the faith. 
 
 The same state of things has existed frequently in 
 history, and as often the Church has been fostered by 
 the same triumphant exhibition of brotherly love. In 
 modern times Christian missions among the Hindoos 
 have been compelled to face a condition similar to that 
 which met the Primitive Church in Jerusalem. Hindoo 
 caste is so strongly intrenched in the minds and customs 
 of the people that our first missionaries were compelled 
 to organize their converts into Christian villages in order 
 to preserve life. Conversion to Christianity meant out- 
 lawry in India. The native believer was expelled from 
 the very bosom of his family, cut off from wife, family, 
 parents, from all men, — remorselessly separated from 
 every kind of social, commercial, and communal contact. 
 
 It is not strange, therefore, that in order to meet 
 exigencies of a special time and condition the apostles 
 should have encouraged a community of goods; but in 
 
MAY A CHRIS TIAN O WN LAND ? 375 
 
 so doing they no more sanctioned the doctrine of mod- 
 ern communism, or condemned the individual holding 
 of land than do our American missionaries in India to- 
 day, and it would be just as reasonable to attribute these 
 principles to the latter Christian apostles as to the prim- 
 itive ones. 
 
 5. But in the fifth place we are enabled to show 
 by subsequent records that the interpretation of the 
 apostle's principles and action here given is the true one. 
 After the deliverance of St. Peter from prison by the in- 
 terposition of an angel, we find this record: "When he 
 had considered the thing he came to the house of Mary, 
 the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where 
 many were gathered together praying." * Here then is 
 the inspired record of the fact that in that city of Jerusa- 
 lem and among those primitive people, the mother of one 
 of the evangelists, a lady of such importance that her 
 house was the centre of the community for private devo- 
 tion, to which St. Peter inevitably turned in his time of 
 need, had retained her own house in her own hands. Ob- 
 viously there was no compulsion in the primitive society 
 resting upon any member to dispose of property; and 
 those who chose to reserve their estates or any part there- 
 of did not lose standing among the primitive Christians. 
 Nor is this case of Mary alone in the sacred records. We 
 read of St. Peter as dwelling in the house of Simon the 
 tanner, apparently one of the brotherhood, at the time 
 when the heavenly vision came to him, bidding him go to 
 the house of Cornelius the centurion to convert him to the 
 Holy faith. f The first convert to Christianity in Europe 
 was Lydia of Thyatira, whose heart the Lord opened at 
 the preaching of Paul, and who upon her conversion and 
 baptism said, " If ye have judged me to be faithful 
 unto the Lord, come unto my house and abide there." % 
 When Paul was prohibited the use of the synagogue at 
 Corinth for the propagation of the new faith we are told 
 that he established his headquarters in " the house of a 
 certain man named Titus Justus, one that worshiped 
 God, whose house j oined hard to the synagogue."§ There 
 
 *Acts xii. 12. f Acts x. 32. J Acts xvi. 15. § Acts xviii. 7. 
 
376 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 is one name which has been embalmed in the beautiful 
 allegory of Bunyan as a type of Christian Hospitality 
 in all ages, of whom John speaks as the " beloved Gaius,"* 
 and whom Paul calls, Gaius mine host, and the host of 
 the whole Church.f Paul when imprisoned at Rome 
 joins with Timothy in greeting Philemon, and adds his 
 salutation "to the church in thy house." % It is useless 
 to multiply these references. True, we cannot be positive 
 that all these householders to whom the sacred writers 
 allude were owners of the properties in which they 
 dwelt, but in consideration of the circumstances surround- 
 ing the various persons quoted, it is unreasonable to think 
 that all of them were simply tenants, as was Paul when 
 he "dwelt two whole years in his own hired house "§ at 
 Rome. Indeed the evidence of the context and the 
 associations as they appear therein seems to place all the 
 individuals to whom I have referred among the number 
 of those who possessed their own homes, and ample 
 means besides, as well as disposition to make them 
 centres of Christian influence and the seats of a holy 
 hospitality. In this view they show that the whole 
 spirit and practice of the early Church, as it was grad- 
 ually distributed from Jerusalem throughout the sur- 
 rounding nations, was quite in accordance with the 
 ancient and prevailing customs, and with that which so 
 universally obtains among Christians and civilized peo- 
 ple to-day. The primitive Christians dwelt upon their 
 own land and under their own roof-trees, and were sanc- 
 tioned by the holy apostles and by their Lord. I do 
 not hesitate to affirm that under such a light of testi- 
 mony from so many independent quarters, extending 
 over so great a period, and embracing such varied 
 sources, it is absolutely impossible for any theologian to 
 justify by the word of God the claim that an individual 
 tenure of land and house is contrary to righteousness, 
 natural justice, Christian charity, and the law of God. 
 
 I have yet one further point which I will not urge as 
 an argument, but which seems to me to have the force at 
 least of an indication, and a very sweet and sacred one. 
 
 * III. John i. | Rom. xvi. 23. % Philemon, verse ii. ? Acts 
 xxviii. 30. 
 
MA Y A CHRISTIAN O WN LAND ? 377 
 
 Before our blessed Saviour left the world he gave his 
 disciples assurance and some degree of insight of that 
 immortal habitation which it was his holy mission to pro- 
 cure and prepare for them that love and trust Him. " In 
 my Father's house," he said, " are many mansions. If it 
 were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a 
 place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you I 
 will come again and receive you unto myself, that where 
 I am there ye may be also." * Does it not impress one 
 who reads these words of Jesus that it was evidently his 
 purpose to stir up within the disciples' minds a sense of 
 holy longing and eager anticipation of the reward of 
 heaven by appealing to that sense of personal possession 
 and security therein which is so strong in the nature of 
 man ? 
 
 Those disciples were called upon to wander like their 
 Master through many lands without homes — oftentimes 
 having not where to lay their heads. For his sake they 
 had forsaken houses and brethren, sisters, father, mother, 
 wife, children, lands. They had the promise that they 
 should receive an hundred-fold and inherit everlasting 
 life. That receiving was not to be for them on this earth, 
 but in another and better country; and as I read these 
 beautiful words of the Master I seem to hear Him say: 
 "Toil on ! bear the sacrifice here ! House you may not 
 have on earth, but there is for you a mansion in the hea- 
 vens. Here you may have no land that you call your own, 
 but in that ' land of pure delight where saints immortal 
 reign ' there shall be for you, yes an hundred-fold, a pos- 
 session, inheritance, and portion in the land of Heavenly 
 Promise, which shall be yours forever and forever." 
 
 For myself I can hardly conceive of the Heavenly city 
 and the Heavenly country independent of some place or 
 mansion which shall be my own, where I may retire 
 from the great crowd — no less a crowd because they are 
 of the redeemed — and with my friends and kindred 
 spirits enjoy under my own vine and fig tree, and under 
 my own roof, the double joy of Home and Heaven. I 
 do not think there is anything contrary, but much in ac- 
 cord both with human nature and theology in the suppo- 
 
 *John xiv. 2, 3. 
 
378 THE GOSPEL IN NATURE. 
 
 sition that the Lord appealed to a like feeling in the 
 breasts of his disciples when he encouraged them to en- 
 dure all loss and sacrifice on earth in view of their own 
 promised place in one of the many mansions in the 
 Father's house in Heaven. If so, that very appeal 
 throws upon the principle on which it is based the great 
 authority of our Saviour's sanction. He recognizes as 
 praiseworthy the hope to hold one's own mansion in the 
 Heavenly city; he acknowledges its lawfulness by build- 
 ing thereupon the aspirations after the rewards and joys 
 of immortality with God. It is surely a fair inference 
 that the legal fact and human sentiment which Jesus 
 made the groundwork of a metaphor that holds out to 
 man the promise of an infinitely holy home, could not 
 have been believed by Him to be unnatural and unholy. 
 No ! nor can we for a moment justify such a conclusion ! 
 If this conception have in it aught of verity it gives 
 the semblance of something more substantial than poetic 
 imagery to those hymns of the Church that express the 
 sentiment of a personal home in heaven. Some of these 
 hymns are among the most familiar and best beloved by 
 the people. Such for example is the one beginning 
 
 When I can read my title clear 
 
 To mansions in the skies, 
 I bid farewell to every fear, 
 And wipe my weeping eyes.* 
 
 Such also is the hymn, 
 
 On Jordan's stormy banks T stand, 
 
 And cast a wishful eye 
 To Canaan's fair and happy land, 
 
 Where my possessions tie. f 
 
 .And now as we bring these meditations to a close, will 
 it not be well for you all to ask, have I through faith in 
 Fesus Christ and the holiness which comes from faith, 
 been made meet to be one of the "partakers of the in- 
 heritance of the saints in light" ? J Have I secured for 
 myself " a title clear " to that heavenly home which the 
 Divine Lord has gone to prepare for those who love 
 him ? 
 
 * Isaac Watts. fSAMUEL Sti.nm.it. % Col. i. 12. 
 
MA Y A CHRISTIAN O WN LAND ? 379 
 
 The thirst for land is not unnatural, at least the de- 
 sire for so much of land as shall constitute a home on 
 earth is natural and praiseworthy. But how many there 
 are who in the fevered ambition to add acre to acre, farm 
 to farm, house to house on earth, are sacrificing their 
 interest in that immortal Home without which all earthly 
 possessions can be of little value ! " For what shall it 
 profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose 
 his own soul?* Vain, vain shall man be secure in the 
 possession of an earthly inheritance, if when the last 
 hour comes, which surely and swiftly draws near to all, 
 he shall fall on death without assurance that he shall 
 pass into the heavenly country and the sweet possession 
 of a heavenly mansion ! Better, better far to be landless 
 here than Homeless in the Hereafter? Yet there is no 
 reason why in the exercise of a good faith and good 
 conscience, you may not be " true to the kindred points 
 of Heaven and Home." 
 
 *Mark viii. 36. 
 
 The End.