[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":4},["ShallowReactive",2],{"reading-0504":3},"MAY 4\r\nHe maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth and his hands make whole (Job 5:18).\r\nTHE MINISTRY OF A GREAT SORROW.\r\nAs we pass beneath the hills which have been shaken by the\r\nearthquake and torn by convulsion, we find that periods of perfect repose succeed those of destruction. The pools of calm water he\r\nclear beneath their fallen rocks, the water lilies gleam, and the\r\nreeds whisper among the shadows; the village rises again over the forgotten graves, and its church tower, white through the storm\r\ntwilight, proclaims a renewed appeal to His protection \"in whose hand are all the comers of the earth, and the strength of the hills is his also.\"--Ruskin.\r\nGod ploughed one day with an earthquake, And drove His furrows deep!\r\nThe huddling plains upstarted,\r\n\r\nThe hills were all aleap!\r\nBut that is the mountains' secret, Age-hidden in their breast;\r\n\"God's peace is everlasting,\"\r\nAre the dream-words of their rest.\r\nHe made them the haunts of beauty, The home elect of His grace;\r\nHe spreadeth His mornings upon them, His sunsets light their face.\r\nHis winds bring messages to them- Wild storm-news from the main;\r\nThey sing it down the valleys In the love-song of the rain.\r\nThey are nurseries for young rivers, Nests for His flying cloud,\r\nHomesteads for new-born races, Masterful, free, and proud.\r\nThe people of tired cities\r\nCome up to their shrines and pray; God freshens again within them,\r\nAs He passes by all day.\r\nAnd lo, I have caught their secret! The beauty deeper than all!\r\nThis faith-that life's hard moments, When the jarring sorrows befall,\r\nAre but God ploughing His mountains; And those mountains yet shall be\r\nThe source of His grace and freshness, And His peace everlasting to me.\r\n--William C. Gannett.",1783499792991]