Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1876-11-30
THE RUTLAND HERALD
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 80, 1875.
THANKFuLNESs AND HOPE
EuLNESS.

FuLNESS.
The quaint old Isaac Walton men,
toned to his scholar while walking in
the cool shade of sweet honey suckle
hedge to Tottenham High Cross, many
reasons for thankfulness which may be
appropriately recalled on this Thanks
giving day: THAT our present happi-
ness may appear to be greater, he said,
and we the more thankful for it, /
will beg you to consider with me how
many do even, Ist This very time, lie un-
% rer the torment of the stone, the govt,
the tooth-ache; and this we are free
from. And every misery that we miss
is new mercy; and therefore let us be
thankful. There have been since we
met, others that have met disasters of
broken links, some have been blasted,
others thunder stricken; and we have
been freed from these, and all these
many miseries that threaten human ma
ture-let us therefore rejoice and be
thankful. Nay, which is far greater
mercy, we are free from the unsupport-
able burthen of an accusing, tormenting
conscience, a misery that none can bear,
and therefore let US praise Him for his
preventing grace, and say every misery
that we miss is new mercy. Nay, let
me tell you, there be many that have
forty times our estates, THAI would
give the greatest part of it 10 be
healthful and cheerful like us, who with
the expense of little money, have ate
and drank, and laughed, and angled, and
sung, and slept securely, and rose next
day and cast away care, and sung and
laughed and angled again; which are
blessings rich men cannot purchase with
all their money. Let me tell you, Schol-
ar, have a rich neighbor that is always
so busy that he has no leisure to laugh
the whole business of his life is to get
money and more money, that he may
still get more and more money; he is
still drudging on, and says that Solomon
says, the diligent hand maketh rich
and it is true indeed but he considers
not that it is not in the powers of riches
to make man happy, for it was wisely
said by man of great observation,
that there be as many miseries beyond
riches as on this side them,' and yet God
deliver US from pinching poverty, and
grant that having a competency, wemay
be content and thankful. Let US net
repine, or so much as think the gifts of
God unequally dealt, if we see another
abound with riches, when, as God
knows, the cares that are the keys
that keep those riches hang often
so heavily at the rich mans |
girdle that they clog him with |
weary days and restless nights even
when others sleep quietly. We see but |
the outside OF The rich mans happiness |
few consider him to be like a silk worm
that when she seems to play, is at the |
very same time spinning her own bowels |
and consuming herself. And this many |
rich men DO, loading themselves with |
correcting cares to keep what they have
probably unconsciously got. Let us
therefore be thankful for health and a |
and above all for quiet |
And many other |
ike blessings we enjoy daily; and for
most of them because they be so CON-
mon most men forget to pay their prais-
es-but let not us, because it is q sacri-
fee so pleasing 10 him that made that
mn -. ~ = protects usa aud give us
mowers and showers and stomachs and
meat and content and leisure TO go
fishing.
And therefore my advice is that you en-
deavor to be honestly rich or contented-
ly poor. ( but note that there
is no necessity Of being rich; for l |
told you there be as many mise1ies be-
yond riches as on this side ofthem-
and il you have q competence enjoy |
it with meek, cheerful and thankful |
heart"
This delightful discourse has been
favorite for more than two hundred
years with those people who sympathize
with what Walton beautifully calls
" the patience and simplicity of poor,
honest fishermen" Charles Lamb said
1t would sweeten any mans temper at
any time to read it. No man ever
came nearer to au understanding of the
promise that the meek shall inherit the
earth than the author of the "Com-
plete Angler" He was always pos
sessed by the idea that certain qualities
of character are indispensable to the en-
joyment of earthly good. He was con-
stantly suggesting in bis quaint way
that religion in some way is to lead the
human race at last into its inheritance
on earth as well as in heaven and that |
religion, meaning by that such qualities
of character as make our very dreams
pleasing beth to God and ourselves, is
what we should seek for first and most
earnestly, with the assurance always in
our hearts that all our temporal wants
have been provided for beforehand by
Him who cares for the birds and the
lilies. His religion was somewhat
vague, it is true, centerlng around the
idea of the Fathe1hood of God rather
than the atonement of Christ; but it
was good religion for Thanksgiving
day-a kind which we wish there was
more of at the present day. 1t was
religion of the hopeful sort, which fur
nished the best antidote TO the gloomy
theories of Nautilus and Darwin ty az
serting constantly that there is a posi-
bility of happiness in the earthly life,
and blessedness in the future for all
people that are born into the world.
LOUISIANA.