A CREATURE OF GOD by L. C. H.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 17, 1879

A CREATURE OF GOD.

By L. C. H.

A TRUE INCIDENT.

The evening was gloomy,—through cordage and sail, ’Round cornice and chimney, came winds’ soughing wail; And sere was the herbage, and leafless the trees, And scattering snowflakes came down on the breeze.

Just ready to plow through the breakers and tide, A steamboat lay snorting the low wharf beside; And while this sea-monster was thus held in check, The passengers gathered in groups on the deck.

And thus as they chatted, there chanced to pass by A man of mild visage, with grave, thoughtful eye, Where one with red features descanted aloud, And alcohol’s virtues he praised to the crowd.

He quoted from Scripture,—we surely should use,— “’Tis a creature of God,” which we may not refuse,— A creature with thankfulness all should receive; Thus Christians should practice, and thus should believe.

To escape from chill winds and the few flakes of snow, The grave-featured stranger just passed on below; And soon, in the crowd who came down to the stove, He spied the rough speaker who held forth above.

So he said, “My dear friend, I am pleased when you say That alcohol truly is good in its way,— Yes, a creature of God, which we may not refuse; All his creatures are good, and we surely should use.

“How many his wonderful works which we see,— Earth, air, fire, and water,—his creatures they be; Here, too, is his creature,—this tall, glowing stove; On such a cold evening, ’tis one we all love.”

Then the rum-blossomed features lit up with a smile, And he held his blue hands to the coal-stove the while, And he rubbed them to warm, and, with complacent nod, Said, “Yes, sir, this fire is a creature of God.”

But the coal all on fire had produced such a glow, ’Twas too hot to be near, as they stood in a row. Said the silver-haired man, with the keen-speaking eye (And he bowed to the stranger, and those that stood by),

“Every creature of God, then, we surely should use— Receive with thanksgiving—we should not refuse. Aye, truly this coal-fire belongs to this class, And now, friend, suppose that we just take a glass.”

The stranger seemed angry, and then looked askance, As the smile passed around at his story’s expense; And our grave friend passed on in his own quiet way. The reader may gather the moral to-day.

The men in the mine, who were delving for ore, In a moment were whelmed, and were seen never more; And then, too, a neighbor, in digging a well, Was smothered and crushed by the earth, as it fell;

The simoon sweeps over the desert afar— E’en the beasts flee in terror when elements war; The fierce lightning shivers the oak as a rod: And these we must own, too, are “creatures of God.”

And oh, but to think of the tempest at sea, When waves rise like mountains, and wild winds are free, And the dark rolling billows but sport with the ship, And toward the tall iceberg ’tis tossed like a chip.

Helm broken and leaking—the masts blown away— While rough, swearing seamen cease pumping, and pray; Then, when the wind changes, and calms at His nod, They own air and water are “creatures of God.”

But if he should add to these terrors a fire, And they plunge ’neath the wave to escape from its ire, We own these tame servants grow masters severe, And viewing such “creatures” we shudder with fear.

Volcanoes and earthquakes belong to this class, The red, flowing lava—the snake in the grass; While strychnine, and arsenic, tobacco, and all, Are “creatures of God,” with this famed alcohol.

Truly terrible masters, and yet, to our race They are blessings as well, when but kept in their place: To that we would bind them with iron and brass; But oh, pray excuse us from taking a glass.

—L. C. H.