The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1883-02-02
A Modern Sermon.

! 1t is such good hit that it will bear re-read
ing very well.
Brethren, the words of my text are:
"Old Mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard
| 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 solemn lesson.
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 cupboard,
To get her poor dog bone.'
Mother Hubbard, you Sec was old +; there
| being no mention of others, we may presume
| she was alone; a widow-a friendless, old,
solitary widow.
Yet, did she despair Did she sit down and
weep, or read novel, or wiring her hands
No ! she went to the cupboard. She did not
hop or skip, or run, nor jump, or use any
other peripatetc artifice; she solely and
merely went to the CUPBOARD.
We have seen that she was old and lonely,
and we now further see that she was poor
For, mark, the words are "the cupboard"
Not zone of the cupboards," or the "right-
hand cupboard" or the cleft hand cupboard"
or the one above, or the one below, or the
one under the stairs, 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 cost
ly apparel or feasts, or any other attributes
of wealth ? 1t was to get her poor dog 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
crouchng 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 dis
tnctly 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
right. She got there.
There are no turnings and twistings, no
slippings and slidings, no leaning to L..e right
or ALTERING to the left.
With glorious simplicity we are told she got
there.
And how was her noble effort rewarded
"The cupboard was barew 1t was bare
There were to be found neither oranges, nor
eese-cakes, nor penny-buns, nor ginger
bread, nor crackers, nor nuts, nor lucifer
matches.
The cupboard was bare!
There was but one, only one solitary cup
board in the whole of that cottage, and that
one, the sole hope of the widow and the
glorious loadstar of the poor dog, was bare
Had there been leg of mutton, q lon of
lamb, tillet of veal even an ice from Gun
ter's the case would have been different, the
incident would have been otherwise.
Many of you will probably say, with all
the pride ofwordly sophistry, "The widow,
no doubt, went out, and bought dog bis
cult"
All, no! Far removed from these earthly
ideas, these mundane desires, poor Mother
Hubbard, the widow, whom many thoughtless
would despise, in that she only
owned one cupboard, perceived or l might
say felt-at one the relentless logic of the
and yielded to it with all the heroism
of that nature which had enabled her without
deviation to reach the barren cupboard
She did not attempt, like the stiff necked
scotfers of this generation, to war against the
she did not try, like the so.called
men of science, to explain what she did not
She did nothing THE poor
dog had none" And then, at this point, our
ceases.
But do we not know sufficient? Are we
not c)gniZant of enough?
Who would dare to pierce the veil that
snTOuuS lHc tlllcIlOI ldlC Vi OH lOIncI IluD-
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 floor, the sought-for bone still remaining
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 APP
ply them, to study them as far as in us lies.