St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-02-25


joy. 1t swells with prospect and prom
Use. 1t bounds and exults. 1t flies
with winged feet. 1t mounts up as
eagles. Simple existence, as Gods child,
in Gods universe, with all the spaces
and glories of Gods futurlty before it,
is the unending feast of the soul. It
turns all days and ages and eternites
into thanksgiving. The career and
and exaltation of it exceed all that we
can say or think.
1t is to be, as it were, a string in the
harp of God, touched and tuned by his
finger.
How poor and barren all earth'S gold
and silver, all its place and honor, COM
pared with a life like this. What
wealth have we in life, possessing
this interior fullness from God. All
the past is ours, and the boundless
future; all that is good around us, and
all the wide and shining kingdom of
the skies above us.
l have little land and earthly store,
believe me, and care for little, vet /
own all the realms of light and love
and song, all the continents of truth,
and hemispheres of righteousness and
mercy and grace, broad and deep as the
heart of God. We have this inviting
temple on the earth, in which to meet
our Lord, and in heaven, appointments
in the Palace of the King, whom we
shall soon see in his beauty, all mine,
all yours. Are we not richf
4. The next item named in the in
ventOry of Christian riches is death.
All things are yours, whether Paul, or
Apolles, or Cephas, or life, or death.
Does death belong to a Christians
capital Certainly, death is yours, you
are not its. If death is an enemy, it is
an enemy to those who know not Christ.
1t has been conquered by the cross, and
made friend and subject of the Chris
tian. Christ bears the key of death in
his girdle and uses it, as a servant.
Death stands as a porter at the covered
way which leads through darkness into
light. 1t is the one who opens the iron
gates of fear and points to the gate of
pearl. Death has no longer Il sting for
the believer. Death relieves the Chris
tian from sorrow and pain and care,
and conducts to Christ. 1t is bright
point in every Christians history. 1t
is the hand which translates him to the
world of glory, and the occasion of his
everlasting joy. He owes it to death
that his eyes are to close on the ills OF
earth and open on the fruitiOns of heav
en-. No other means can accomplish
this.
Herein are riches and blessing. Christ
has snatched good for his people, out
of the jaws of their greatest foe, and
caused even the King of Terrors to bow
meekly at his feet and wait upon us to
perform the last earthly benefit by TAX
ing us to our eternal home.
In our fathers house are many man
sions. Death, only, can introduce us
there.
5. The fifth clause in this enroll
ment of Christian blessing is, things
present. Gan things are yours, whether
life, or death, or things present"
The reference is to all those events
which come into our lives on earth to
promote our welfare and advance our
interests as Christ's disciples.
If you hold your good things grate-
fully as Gods gifts, and take comfort in
them as tokens of his love, it pleases
him. He enjoys your joy. 1t is not his
study to see what he can take from You,
but rather, what he can add to you.
Your wife and children, and friends and
comforts, you may love, without any
fear that you are doing wrong thereby,
aud endanger their being taken from
you. They are the "things present."
God gave You to he happy in. But
when changes occur, and reverses and
sorrOws come, he is not less your friend.
1t is no evidence that he has turned
against you. In Gods arithmetic, sub
traction is often addition.
The problem is not, what things you
must be cut down in, but how greatly
you may be enlarged. 1t is his law to
make the less give room for the greater.
9th, and finally, ''things to come"
All things are yours whether the world,
OF life, or death, or things present, or
things to come.
This fifty and grandly closes the I'M
parallelled category of the Christians
Inheritance. Things present on earth,
and things to come in heaven-AND
THINGS TO COME IN HEAVEN-all are
yours, and We are Christ's, and Christ
is Gods.
Here on the threshold of the unspeak
able glory, leave the enumeration of
the Christians possessions. An attempt
to exhibit and explain those things to
come, with stammering human tongue,
would only mar the beauty and splen
dor of that which "ear hath not heard,
nor eye seen, nor heart of man conceiv
ed" and what God and eternity alone
can reveal to those who love him.
Let us lift our grateful, unending
praises to him for these things, and
make every day dedication day, and
all events occasions for praise. All
these things are yours if We are ChIist's.
They come to you as his children
and legatees. They are purchased for
you with price, even his own precious
blood. He makes them yours, the hour
you become his. He is the unspeakable
gift, which includes all these other gifts.
Since all things are ours through Christ,
where ought all these blessings to lead
US but to Christ
o day of joy and gladness that wit
nesses the completion of this house
How many sacred memories and bless
ings and congratulations meet here to-
day-cOngratulatiOn from friends scat
tered widely through this land-bless-
ings from generous and sympathetic
hearts over the sea whose thoughts are
here at this hour, and whose love for
the old home is voiced in this noble in
strument of praise; memories of a godly
ancestry that once toiled and prayed
here and here passed away-of souls
now white-robed and beauteous in glo-
ry who worship no more in temples
built with hands.
This house of worship brings MS into
communion with Almighty God through
Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. 1t
joins us in -compaDionship with great
| cnmnanu of annels whn whit here