Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-01-07
Our Social UirfIe.
Sentence for the Closing Year,
by HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.


The great measure of the worth of any re-
ligion is its ability to help men. Religion is
the son of want and weakness. Moses in old
times put the worship of Jehovah to this test
when he said, For what nation is there so
great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as
the Lord our God is IN all things that aoe call
upon Himtor?
Now, if the old Jewish religion had this
privilege, certainly the Christian dispensation
has not less. We in the Gospel are nearer
to God than were the cid Jews not further
off, And if the Lord their God was near
unto them for all thatthey called on Hin for,
certainly He is not less near to us.
The present is time for testing the prac-
teal worth of ones religion. A sweeping
season Of calamity has passed over the land.
Anxiety, sorrow, want, perplexity, are in
mates now in many dwelling where before
they we're strangers Now is the time to dis
Germ between him that hath and him that hath
not an Almighty helper. Now is the time
when some men, who seem to the eyes of the
world to have lost all, may glorify their Fa-
ther in heaven, by cheerful serenity Of de-
meanor, which seems wonderful to those who
know not ifs hidden source
Whatever doors may be closed on them,
whatever reliances failed, there il one door
which is open wider than ever now-the door
of that secret place where they may find their
Father to cast their care on Him. They must
60 not in formal phrases learned by rote, but
IN genuine heart-openings, such as One friend
used with another. Like the disciples, when
they had buried their dead friend, they must
ego and tell Jesus"
What heart-eating word is that little one,
Care. 1t has in it an indeliniteness, an un-
certain fearfulness; it pertains to creature
who cannot see step before him-who is
every moment exposed to unforeseen calami-
ties and reverses. It has in it all Of mans
poverty-a poverty which is born in him, and
lives with him, and is the twin and intimate
companion of his soul, and which none of the
things that are called riches orhonor can ale
viate or lessen in the smallest degree In
all the great straits and necessities Of our con-
dition here, an emperor is as poor as a slave /;
he can no more know the future; he can no
more redeem his loved ones from its power.
Hence care sits as close to the skin under En-
mine and jewelry as under rags.
No religion but the Christian ever had a
sentence like this Casting all your care on
Him--for he careth for yom. Many prophets
and wise men of antiquity would have eaped
for Joy at such message, but none such came
to them. The lilies of the field and the fowls
of the air were just the same in their day as
in any other, but it was not till Christ ex-
planned their higher and more beautiful sig
nifcance, did the world understand that Fa-
theirs protection and care were written even
in the infexible course of nature.
The papers lately have teomed with ac.
counts of suicides. Poor souls, crushed and
smitten in the distresses of these times, have
sought desperate remedy, But we who
have a God to care for us, should show that
we have so great a refuge-wc must cast oul
cares on Him. We all knowwhat this means
in earthly language. A man says, Il have
pnt all that care on so-and. so"--it means ht
has discharged his mind of the is free t.
give his thoughts to something else--he has
for the present done with it, for he has secur
ed its being properly attended to. So, whei
we 90 to God and cast our care on Him, W.
lift It from our own souls, and come ava,
from the interview as one who had left
weight behind But there are times of re
Taxed nervous energy-times of weakness
when though we sag in wor s, Lord, beiev'