St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-04-24

| The sermon which followed was such
an one as they had never before heard
| from his lips. There was in it a power,
a fervor, a tenderness which no words
of mine can describe. 1t was the tes-
timony of living witness, who has
found the Lord very present help i'll
time of trouble.
When all was over, and he came
down the pulpit stairs, his wife stood
again at the foot, aud he took her arm
and went out silently. He seemed to
the waiting congregation as one set
apart and conSecrated by the amounting
of a special sorrow, and they dared not
break the holy silence round him with
common speech
The next afternoon committee from
the church went to the parsonage.
Mrs. Spencer saw them coming, and
told her husband
alt must be- he said, "tO ask my
advice in the choice of my successor"
81 should think they might have
waited one day" she cried, with Il
wOman's passionate impatience at any
| seeming fOrgetfulness of the claims
given him by his years of faithful ser
vice.
! hI sIdltibu ldtl ltitntu tIlt tbpl
by that time. and the minister did not
answer. She waited on the men into
the study and left them there going
about her usual task with heart full
of bitterness. 1t was natural, perhaps,
that they should not want Il blind
minister, but to tell him so now, to
make the very first pang of his sorrow
sharper by their thanklessness, it was
too much.
An hour passed before they went
away, and then she heard her husbands
voice calling her, and went into his
study prepared to Sympathize with his
sorrow. She found him sitting where
she had left him. with such IA look of
JOY. and peace and thankfulness upon
his face as she had never expected to
see it wear again.
"Mary,n he said, ''there are some
kind hearts in this world. My parish
want me to stay with them, and in
sist on raising my salary hundred
dollars year"
''Want you to stay with them" she
cried hardly understanding his words.
ayes, | told them | could not do
them Justice, hut they would not
listen they believe that my very af-
Fiction will give me new power over
the hearts of men, that | can do as
much good as ever. They would not
wait Il day, you see, lest we should he
anxious about our future"
"And | thought they were coming,
in indecent haste, to give you notice to
CO." Mrs. Spencer cried, penitcntly.
elbow | misjudged them Shall
never learn Christian charity p
So it was settled that the minister OF
Montclair should abide with his people.
For three years more his persuasive
voice called them to choose the better
way and then his own summons came
to 90 up higher. In those three years
/, he had sown more seed and reaped
more harveSts than some men in a long
life time. He did his work faithfully,
and was ready when the hour came for
him to 80 home. Just at the last, when
those who loved him best stood weep
, ing round his bedside, they caught
, upon his face the radiance of a light
not of this world. He put ont his
hands with glad cry
81 see, see Out of the dark, into
, the light !"
And before they could look with awe
and wonder into each others eyes, the
: glory had begun to fade, the out
stretched hands fell heavily, and they
: knew the blind minister was gone
"past night, past day" where for hin
: there would be no more darkness. -
Watchman and Reflector.