The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1880-04-14
AM0DBRN SERMON.

a MODERN SERMON
By request we publish this g Modern Ser
mon,' which hits off pretty fairly the way
in which some discourses are constructed
Brethren, the words of my text are
Mother Hubbard she went to the cupboard,
To get her poor dog bone
When she got there the cupboard was bare,
And SO the poor dog had none.
These beautiful words, dear friends, carry
with them a solemn lesson. | propose this
evening TO analyze their meaning, and to ap-
ply it, lofty as it may be, to our every day
life. W t4
Mother Hubbard she went to the cupboard,
To get her poor dog u bone.
Mother Hubbard was old ;there being no
mention of others, we may presume she was
alone, widow-a friendess, old solitary wild
ow. Yet, did she despair Did she sit down
and weep, or read novel, or wiring her hands
No She went to the cupboard, and here OBJ
serve that she bent to the cupboard. She did
not hop, or skip, or run, or jump or use any
other peripatetic artifice, she solely and mere
ly rent to the cupboard.
We have mentioned that she was old and
lonely, aud we now further see that she was
poor. For mark. the words are the cupboard.
Not one of the cupboards, or the left-haud
cupboard or the right-hand cupboard, or the
one above or the one below, or the one under
tie floor, but just the cupboard. The one
humble little cupboard the poor widow pos
sessed. And why did she.go to the cupboardp
ANasis asSng forth gpislep eoble tgor elistersrsy
precious stones, or costly apparel. or feasts or
any other attributes OF wealth ? 10 ,oas 10 qet
her poor dog bone. Not only was the wd-
ow poor but her dog, the sole prop of her
age was poor too We can imagine the scene.
The poor dog crouched in the corner looked
wistfully at the solitary cupboard, and the
widow going to that cupbcard--in hope, in
expectation may be-to open it, although we
are not distinctly told that. it was not half
open or ajar, to open it for that poor dog.
And when she got there the cupboard was bare
And SO the dog had none.
When she got there You see, dear breth-
rem, what perseverance, is. You see the beau
ty. of persistence in doing right. She got
there. There was no turnings and twistings
no slippings aud slidings, no leanipgs to the
right or falterings to the left. With glorious
simplicity we are told she got thsre.
And how was her noble effort rewarded p
The cupboard was bare. 1t was bare There
we've TO be found neither oranges, nor cheese
cakes, nor nuts, nor lucifer matches. The
cupboard was bare. There was hut one, only
one solitary cupboard in the whole of that
cottage, aud that one, the sole hope of the
widow and the glorious lone star of the poor
dog, was bare. Had there been leg of nut
ton, loin of lamb, fillet of veal, even an
inch from Gunter's, the case would have been
different, the incident would have been 9TH
erwise. But it was bare, my brethren, bare
as bald head.
Many of you will probably say, with all the
pride Of worldly sophistry, the widow, no
doubt, went out and bought dog biscuit -
All, no ? Far removed from earthly ideas,
these mundane desires, poor Mother HUB
bard, the widow, whom many thoughtess
worldlings would despise, in that she only
owned one cupboard, perceived-or might
even say saw--at once the relentless logic of
the situation, and yielded to 1t with all the
heroism of that nature which had enabled her
without deviation to reach the barren cup
board. She did not attempt, like the stiff
necked scoffers of this generation, to war
against the inevitable. She did not try like
the so-called men of science to explain what
she did not understand. She did nothing -
The poor dog had none. And then at this
point our information ceases But do we not
know sufficient? Are we not cognizant of
enough Who would dare to pierce the veil
that shrouds the Interior fate of old Mother
Hubbard, the poor dog, the cupboard, or the
bone that was not there? Must we imagine
her still standing at the open cupboard door,
depict to ourselves the dog still dropping his
disappointed tail upon the floor, the sought
for bone still remaining somewhere else All,
no, my dear brethren, we are not SO permitted
to attempt to read the future. Suffice it for
us to CLEAN from this beautiful story its many
beauties suffice 1t for MS to CLEAN from this
beautiful story its many lessons suffice it for
as to apply them, TO study them as far as in
us lies, and bearing in mind the natural frail-
ty Of our nature, to avoid being widows to
avoid being widows to shun the patronymic
of Mother Hubbard to have, if our means
afford it, more than one cupboard in the
house, and to keep stores in them all And,
oh dear friends keeping In recollection
what we have learned this day, let us avoid
keeping dogs that are fond of bones. But,
hrefhren. if we do if Fate has ordained that
we should do any of these things, let ss'then