Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-09-05

can pick that lock no assault of hammer, how
ever stout, can force it open. But with its own
key. little child may open it, often does open
it, it goes SO sweety, SO with will. You lift
you with sort Of tender light Of its own,
shutting out the outer world, filing you With
an eerie joy, as if alone and yet not alone.
You see the cup within, and in it the one crys-
taline, un imaginable, inestimabls drop; glow
ing and tremulous, as if alive You take up
the cup, you sup the drop it enters into, and
becomes of the essence OF yourself and so IN
humble gratitude and love, /" in sober certainty
of waking bliss" you gently replace the cup
1t will gat her again,-it il for ever ever gath
erng; no man, woman, or hid ever opened |
that chest, and found no drop in the cup. 1t |
might not be the very drop expected it will
serve their purpose none the worse. often much
| the better.
And now bending down, you shut the lid |
which you hear locking itself afresh against
all but the sacred key. You leave the now
hallowed mist. You look out on the old "a
miliar world again, which somehow looks both
new and old. You descend, making your OBJ
ervations over again, throwing the tight of the
spresent on the past and past and present set
against the boundless future. You hear COM
| iug up to you the homely sounds-the sheep
dogs bark, the ccck's shriil clarion "-from
the farm at the h-foot; you hear The ring OF
the black smith IS study, you see the smoke of
his forge; your mothers grave has the long
shadows OF evening lying across IT, the sun
light falling on the letters of her name, and on
the number of her years the lamb is asleep
in the 5ield of the infants grave. Speedily
you at your own door. You enter wit h
weared feet and thankful heart you shut the
door, and you kneel down and pray to your
Father in heaven, the Father of lights, your
rsconeiled Father, the God and Father of our
| 4 -. I -, xoA
and Father in and through him. As you lie
down on your delightful bed before you fall
asleep, you think again your ascent up
the Hill Difficulty its bsthing heights, its
reaches of dreary moorland it's shifting grav
els, lie precipices, its quagmires its little wells
of living waller near the top, and all its " dread
magniicence y; its calm, restful summit, the
hush of silence there, the allalonensss of the
place and hour /; it's peace, its sacredness, its
divireness. You see again the mist, the ark,
the cup, the cleaning drop, and recalling the
sight of the world below, the earth and all its
fuIlness, you say to yourself,-
These are thy glorious works, Parent of good
Almighty, thine this universal frame,
UnspeakabIe, who sitt'st above these heavens"
: And finding the burden TOO heavy even for
| these glorious lines, you take refuge in the
P.alms,-
I
Praise ye Lord from the heavens praise him In
Praise him in the armament Of his power.
Praise him, all his angels praise him. all his hosts
Praise him, and moon praise him, all ye stars
Praise Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all
and hail, AMI vapOr, stormy wind fulfilling
Mountains and all hills fruit md all cedsrs
Beasts, and all cattle, creeping things, and nyin ing
King, of earth, s people, princes snd judges
OF The earth
Both young men and m.idens old men and children
Let ,hen praise the name Of the Lord
Let ererything that hath bre >th praise the Lord.
Bless tie Lord, o my soul -
need hardly draw the moral OF this our
somewhat financial exsrcitation and exegesls.
= \ ou can all make 1t out such as 1t is- 1t Is
the toll, and the Joy, and the victory in the
y search of truth not the taking on trust, or
. learning by rote, not by heart, what other men
count call true but the vital appropriation &.
the ascmia ton Of truth to ourselves, and of
;, ourselves to truth Ali truth is of value, but
| one truth differs from another weight and
: | in brightness, in worth and you need not me
. to tell that spiritual and eternal truth the
> truth as it is in Jesus, is the best. And don I
- thirk that your own hand has gotten you the
4 victory, and that you had no unseen, and 1t
may be unfelt and unack uowledged, hand guild
ing YOU up the hill Unless the Lord had been
., at and on your side, all your labor would have
been in vain, and worse. No two things are
-, more iuscrutable or less uncertain than mans
4 spontaneity and mans ess,-Freedom
- and Grace as the two poles. 1t 10 his du y that
you are led to the right hill and the right road,
. for there are other Tintocks, with other kists
a and other drops. Work out, therefore, your
:, own knowledge with fear and trembling, for il
a is God that worketh in you both to will and to
do, and to know of his good pleasure. There
,s is no explaining and there is no disbelievlng
in this.
4 And now, before bidding you good by, did
you ever think of the spiritual meaning OF the
- pillar Of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by
! | night, as connected with our knowledge anc
our ignorance, our light and our darkness, oul
g!adness and our SORROW? The every day use
- of this divine alienation to~he wandering chill
10 dren of Israel is plain enough. Darkness
best seen against light, and light against dark.
=, ness and its use, in desper of keep
ing forever before them the immediate pres
% encs of God in The midst OF them, 10 not les
- plain but sometimes think, that We who ar
= also still in the wilderness and coming up from
- our Egypt and its fiesh.pots, and our way
- let US hope, through Gods grace, to the celes
q tial Canaan, may draw from these old-worl'
e' signs and wonders that, in the midday OF know
u edge with daylight all about us, there it,
' nc one could but look for it, that perpetual pila
u of cloud, d,-that sacred darkness which haunt
ali human knowledge, often the most at II
highest noon that d" look that threatens Il
y" profane y: that sonnet hing, and above all, tha
'ie sense of Some One, that Holy One, who IN
habits eternity and its praises, who makes dark
- ness His secret place, His pavilion round abou
darkness and thick clouds of sky.
I'VE And again, that in the deepest, thickest nigh
'fe of doubt, of fear. of sorrow, of despair 'ha
'S then and all the most then,-if we will bu
ei' look in the right art, and with the seeing ey
u uof and the understanding heart,-there may b
''l seen that Pillar Of fire, OF light and OF heat,
guide and quicken and cheer knowledge an
ow love, that everlast ing love which we know
nes be the Lords. And how much better oh al
ons we than the chosen people their pillars wei
i've on earth, divine in their essence, but subJe
ere doub tless to earthly perturba,ionz and lnte
ii ferences but guiding light is In the hea
is ems, towards which may take earnest hee
TO that we are Journeying.
~. ~ the raging seas rode,
ace The loud, the night was dark:
ing The ocean yawned, and r udsiy sss s.owea ,,.
,ss, INC VIM ' ' "
Ide Deep horror thsn my vtals fro1e,
ed Death struck, ceased the tide to ste m,
When suddenly q star arose
NIL tie star OF Bethlehem
,.oa II was my guide, my light my all,
ne' 1t bade my dark foreboding cease:
the And through the storm and dangers thrAl
hal 1t led me to the port in pese
ue Now safely moored, my periis er
the Il sing first in nights dadem.
oraI Forever and forevermore
"ie The Star. the Star of Bethlehem 20