, 1882-07-07
A Modern Sermon.

DIcllIeu lIc NOluS VI my leAJ dlc'
"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 APP
| ply 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 widow
IA 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 lcent to the cupboard. She
did not hop, or skip, or run, or jump,
or use any other peripatetic artitice;
she solely and merely acent to the
cupboard.
Wehave seen that she was old and
lonely, and we now further see that
she was poor. For mark, the words
are, "We cupboard"
Not .one 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 OF glitter
ing precious stones, or costly apparel,
or feasts, or any other attributes of
wealth? II ,rds to get her poor dog a
bone! NoG only was the widow poor
but the 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 cup
board, and the widow going to that
cupboard-in hope, in expectation,
maybe-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 therew You see,
dear brethren, what perseverance is,
You see the beauty of persistence
in doing right. She got there.
There was no turnings and twist
ings, no slippings and slidings, no
leaning to the right, or faltering to
the left.
With glorious simplicity we are
told she got there.
And how was her noble effort re-
warded?
The cupboard was barew 1t was
bare! There was to be found rcith
er oranges, nor cheesecalles, nor pen
ny buns. nor gingerbread, nor crack
ers, nor nuts, nor lucifer matches,
The cupboard was bare!
There was but one, only one, soil
tary cupboard in the whole of that
cottage, and that one, the sole hope
of the widow and the glorious lode
star Of TIC poor dog, was bare! Had
there been leg of mutton, loin of
lamb, tillet 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, with
all the pride of worldly sophistry.
The widow, no doubt, went out, and
bought dog biscuit"
All. nol Far removed from these
earthly ideas, these mundane desires,
poor Mother Hubbard, the widow,
whom many thoughtless worldlings
would dcspise, in that she only owned
one cupboard, perceivod-or | might
even say, saw-at once the relentless
logic Of the situation. and yielded to
to it with all the heroism of that ma
ture which had enabled her, without
deviation, to reach the barren cup
board.
She did not attempt, ike the stlft
necked scofiers of this generation, to
war against the inevitable; she did
not Try, like the so-called men of sci
ence, to explain what she did not I'M
derstand.
She did nothing. "The poor dog
had nonew And then, at this point,
orr information ceases.
But do we not know sufficient? Are
we not cognizant 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 hoor-the
sought-for bone still remaining some