Gold Nugget 181 - The Temporary and The Eternal
All nature echoes the message of the grass. The winter snow falls lightly, and lies in its white purity – mystic, wonderful – over all the land; but too soon it soils, and browns, and sinks, and passes all away.
The spring flowers that come, responsive to the low sunshine and the gentle breath, are so fragile, they stay with us only such a little while, and then they pass away.
The summer blossoms multiply and stand thick over the ground, and they seem strong, with their deep rich colouring; and yet they too wither and droop and pass away.
The autumn fruits cluster on the tree branches, and grow big, and win their soft rich bloom of ripeness; but they too are plucked in due season, and pass away.
The gay dress of varied leafage is soon stripped off with the wild winds; one or two trembling leaves cling long to the outmost boughs; but, by-and-by, even they fall and pass away. Down every channel of the hillsides are borne the crumblings washed from the everlasting hills, as we call them, that yet are passing away.
And man – does he differ from the things in the midst of which he is set? Nay; he is but flesh. … It is even true of the very forms and modes in which one man strives to bless and help another. The forms are not the principal things; they are but the temporary human stamp; and God may remove or change them to make us feel our entire dependence on him. …
Everything that speaks to our souls of God is a revelation to us. It may be a touch of nature. It may be only a pure white flower. It may be the pale gold and green of a late sunset. It may be the snowy crest of an Alpine mountain, lying soft and pure against the summer’s deep blue sky. It may be the weird mist of the gloaming creeping over the landscape. It may be the glimpse “down some woodland vale, of the many twinkling sea.” It may be the thunder-voice of God echoing among the hills, or it may be the voice of some fellow-man, translating into human words for us the mysteries of Divine truth and love revealed to him for our sakes.
Howsoever the Word of God may come into our souls, it is true for ever. All things that our souls hear and feel and know are Divine, are permanent, eternal things. When God speaks to our souls by his providence, the message is permanent. The revelation of redemption is permanent. Everything that pleads in us for duty is eternal, because it bears on the culture of character. …
In Dr. Bushnell’s life is the following passage, found penciled by him on a stray sheet of paper. Referring to the time of his infancy, when he “came out of this rough battle with winds, winters, and wickedness,” he says, “My God and my good mother both heard the cry, and went to the task of strengthening me, and comforting me together, and were able ere long to get a smile upon my face. … Long years ago she vanished; but God stays by me still, embraces me in my grey hairs as tenderly and carefully as she did in my infancy, and gives to me, as my joy and the principal glory of my life, that he lets me know him, and helps me with real confidence to call him my Father.”
The Pulpit Commentary Isaiah II p. 92, Isaiah 40:6-8, (R. Tuck)
Gold Nugget 181
The Temporary and The Eternal
