The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1882-07-13
A Modern Sermon.

Brethren the words of my text are:
"Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard
But when she got there the cupboard was BARE
and SO the poor dog had none"
These beautiful words, dear friends,
carry with them O solemn lesson.
I propose this evening to analyze their
meaning, and attempt to apply it,
lofty as it may be, to our every day
life.
sold Mother Hubbard she went to the cupboard.
To get her dog bone.'
Mother Hubbard, you see, was old,
there being no others, We may presume
she was alone; q widow-a friendless, odd
solitary widow.
Yet, did she despair? Did she sit down
and weep or read q novel, or wiring her
hands? mol "she went to the cupboard. J"
And here observe that she went to the
cupboard. She did not hop, or skip, or
run, or jump, or use any other peripa-
tetic arti6ce; she solely and merely went
to the cupboard. -
We have seen that she was old and
lonely, and we now see that she was
poor. For, mark, the words are " her
cupboard
Not zone of the cupboards," or the
''right hand cupboard or the left hand
cupboard" or 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 go to the cupboard?
Was it to bring forth golden goblets, or
glittering precious stones, or costly APP
parel, or feasts. or any other attributes
of wealth. 1t was to get her poor dog a
bonel 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
poor dog crouching in the corner, look
ing 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.
''Wheu she got there" You see, dear
brethren, what perseverance is.
You see the beauty of persisting in do
ing right. She got there.
There are no turnings and twistings,
no slipping and slidings, 10 leaning to
the right, or gatherings to the left.
What glorious simplicity we are told,
she got there.
And how was her noble effort re-
warded?
1.-THE cupboard was barrel" 1t was bare!
There were to be found neither ORANGES
ray.xol ...s.so.seo.
Tie CupDUurv2 --sas harei
There was but one, only one solitary
cupboard in the whole of that cottage.
and that one the sole hope of the widow
and the glorious loadstar of the Door
dog, was barrel Had there been leg of
mutton, a loin of lamb, a fillet of veal
even an ice from Gunter's, the case
would have been different, the incident
would have been otherwise.
Many of you will probably say, that
with all the pride of worldly sophistry,
'The widow, no doubt, went out and
bought dog biscuit"
All, mel Far removed from these
earthly ideas, these mundane ideas, poor
Mother Hubbard, the widow, whom
many thoughtless worldlings would de-
spise, in that she only owned one cup
board, perceived-or 1 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 ena-
bled her without deviation to reach the
barren cupboard.
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 ex.
plain what she did not understand.
She did nothing ''The poor dog had
noner And then, at this point our in
formation ceases.
But do we not know sufficient? Are we
not cognixant Of enough?
Who would dare tn pierce the veil that
ahrouds 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 our
selves the dog still dropping his disap-
pointed tail upon the noor-the sought
bone still remaining somewhere else?
All! no, my dear brethren, We are not
20 permitted to attempt to read the fu-
ture. Suffice it for us to CLEAN from this
beautiful story its many lessons; suffice
it for rs 10 apply them, to study them as
far - in rs lies.