The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-06-19
A MODERN SERMON.

A MODERN SERMON.
Showing How Much May Be Made of n
Simple Text by an Ingenious Preacher.
Brethren, the words of my text are:
"Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cup
board,
To get her poor dog bone;
But 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.
l propose this evening to analyze their
meaning, and to attempt to apply it, lofty as
it may be, to our every day life.
"Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cup
board,
To get her poor dog bone"
Mother Hubbard, you see, was old; there
being no mention of others, we may presume
she was alone; a wldow-a friendless, old,
solitary widow.
Yet, did she despair? Did she sit down
and weep, or read a novel, or wiring her
hands? No! "she went to the cupboard :"
And here observe that she went to the cup
board. She did not hop, or skip, or jump, or
use any other peripatetic artihce, she solely
and merely went to the cupboard.
We have seen that she was old and lonely,
and we now further see that see she was poor.
For mark, the words are 'the cupboard"
Not zone of the cupboard" or the right hand
cupboard" or the cleft hand cupboard, Tor the
one above or the one below, or the one under the
stair, but just the cupboard. The one little
humble cupboard the poor widow possessed.
And why did she 60 to the cupboard? Was
it to br ng forth golden goblets, or glittering,
precious stones, or costly apparel, or feasts, or
any other attributes of.wealth ? 1t was to get
her poor dog a bone Not only was the
widow poor, but her dog, the sole prop of her
age, was poor too.
We can imagine the scene. The poor dog
crouching in the corner, looking wistfully at
the solitary cupboard, and the widow going to
that cupboard-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.
But when she got there the cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.
"When she got there" You see, dear
brethren, what perseverance is.
You see the beauty Of persistence in doing
what is right. She got there.
There are no turnings and twistings, no
slippings and slidings, no leanings to the right
or gatherings to the left.
With glorious simplicity we are told she got
there.
And how was her noble effort rewarded!
"The cupboard was bare!' 1t was bare
There were to be found neither oranges, nor
cheesecakes, nor penny buns, nor ginger
bread, nor crackers, nor nuts, nor lucifer
matches.
The cupboard was bare
Thar hut
board in the whole of that cottage, and that
one, the sole hope of the widow and the glo-
rious loadstar of the poor dog, was bare! Had
there been leg of mutton, loin of lamb, a
tillet OF veal. even an ice cream from Gunter's $,
the case would have been different, the Incl
dent would have been otherwise.
Many of you will probably say, with all the
pride of worldly sophistrry, "The widow, no
doubt, went out and bought dog biscuit.
All, no! Far removed from these earthly
ideas, these mundane desires, poor Mother
Hubbard, the widow whom many thoughtlesS
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 it 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 stitt-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 Hub
bard, 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 Aoor-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 lessons; suffice it for us to apply them,
to study them as far as in US lies.