210 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



three or four of them up to one of the front seats where they could 

 get the truth at sliort range, and turning to his minister he said r 

 " Now, you lielp the Lord up to that end and I will attend to this 

 end, and we will have a first-class meeting." Helping the Lord. 

 Now, that is pretty good. I want to talk about it a little while, of 

 this partnership of capital and labor in human and divine relation- 

 ship. 



Let us turn back a little. When the great coal measures were beiuor 

 formed and the lakes of oil were being distilled for the use of men to- 

 day, there was little of beauty. The time for flowers and fruits was 

 not yet. The huge ichthyosaurus with his dull brain didn't need roses, 

 and he could live without strawberries. It was not necessary to raise 

 oranges and bananas for these huo;e monsters of sea and land. Mists 

 enveloped the earth, and there was no glory of cloudland, no rainbow, 

 uone of the splendors of the air. Note this as you follow the ages 

 down in the vast preparation for the coming of man. You will note 

 that all along the lines everything was converging toward the coming 

 Prince who was to be hailed by all nature as the Son of God. As 

 His time drew near the grains and vegetables began to appear, ex- 

 quisite flowers began to bloom, and luscious fruits were provided. At 

 least the species were formed out of which sprang unending variety. 



Stranger still, as we draw near the human era, those marvelous 

 gems — earth's fadeless flowers — were formed, beautiful, rich, and im- 

 perishable. Beauty for the ages, the topaz; the opal, sea of glass 

 mingled with fire; the emerald, in which is garnered the greenness of 

 earth and sea; the sapphire, with the azure compressed in its marvel- 

 ous blue; and the diamond, the richest of them all. These were 

 formed in comparatively recent times. The diamond grew by accre- 

 tions and has layers like an onion. Some gems are growing now. 

 Though God made the gems, he never mines them. He does not run 

 a lapidary. He does not polish them or give them their setting in the 

 field of gold. There was the peacock throne of India. Every feather 

 of the wonderful bird made of exquisite gems. It was worth fifty 

 million dollars. It was one mingled blaze of dazzling splendor. 

 One eastern prince had a flower garden made of jewels and they were 

 always in bloom. Now these wonderful stones were not formed in 

 the heart of the earth, but near the surface. They were not hung on 

 trees where they could easily be picked. Men had to work for them. 



