are signs and sacraments from God, earnests of the everlasting
spring--the world of unfading beauty and perpetual happiness which is the
proper home of man, which God has prepared for those that love Him--the
world wherein there shall be no more curse, neither sorrow nor sighing,
but the Lord God and the Lamb shall be the light thereof; and the rivers
of that world shall be waters of life, and the trees of that world shall
be for the healing of the nations; and the children of the Lord God shall
see Him face to face, and be kings and priests to Him for ever and ever.
Therefore, I say, rejoice in spring time, and in the sights, and sounds,
and scents which spring time, as a rule, brings; and remember, once for
all, never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Beauty is
God's hand-writing--God's image. It is a wayside sacrament, a cup of
blessing; welcome it in every fair landscape, every fair face, every fair
flower, and drink it in with all your eyes, and thank Christ for it, who
is Himself the well-spring of all beauty, who giveth all things richly to
enjoy.

I think, this 104th Psalm is a fit and proper psalm to preach on in this
sweet spring time; for it speaks, from beginning to end, of God's earth,
and of His glory, and love, and wisdom which shines forth on this earth.
And though, at first sight, it may not seem to have much to do with
Christianity, and with the great mystery of our redemption, yet, I
believe and know that it has at bottom all and everything to do with it;
that this 104th Psalm is as full of comfort and instruction for Christian
men as any other Psalm in the whole Bible. I believe that without
feeling rightly and healthily about this Psalm, we shall not feel rightly
or healthily about any other part of the Bible, either Old or New
Testament. At all events God's inspired psalmist was not ashamed to
write this psalm. God's Spirit thought it worth while to teach him to
write this psalm. God's providence thought it worth while to preserve
this psalm for us in His holy Bible, and therefore I think it must be
worth while for _us_ to understand this psalm, unless we pretend to be
wiser than God. I have no fancy for picking and choosing out of the holy
Bible; _all_ Scripture is given by inspiration of God--all Scripture is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, and therefore this 104th Psalm is profitable as well as
the rest; and especially