The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-23


g-point for a great eternity Gods surveyors
carry n very long chain. A scale may be very
delicate that can weigh grain, but Gods scale
is so delicate that he can weigh with it that
which is 81 small that a grain is million times
heavier. When John kitto poor boy on
back street of Plymouth. cut his foot with a
piece of glass, God bound it up so successfully
that be became the great Christian geographer,
and q commentator known among all nations.
So every vuun;a. CT the soul, however insignlfi-
can't God is willing to bind up AS at the first
cry of the child the mother PUSHES to kiss the
wound, so God, our mother. takes the smallest
wound of the heart and presses it to
the lips of divine sympathy. "As one
whom his mother comforteth so will comfort
YOU
PATIENCE WITH THE ERRING.
remark, further, that God has mothers pa
thence for the erring IT one does wrong. first his
associates in life cast him off; if he goes on in
the wrong way. his business partner casts him
off, if he goes on, his pest friends casts him Off
his father casts him off. But after all others
have cast him off, where does he go9 Who holds
no grudge-forgives the last time as we'll as the
frstl Who sits by the murderer's counsel all
through through the long trials Who tarries the
longest at the windows of a culprit's celll Who,
when all others think ill of a man. keeps on
thinking we'll of him9 1t is his mother. God.
bless her gray hairs. if she be still alive and bless
her grave, if she be gone And bless the rock
ing chair in which she used to sit. and bless the
cradle she used to rock, and bless the Bible she
used to read. So God, our mother, has patience
for al the erring. After everybody else has
cast AMMAN off, God, our mother, comes to the
rescue God leaps to take charge of a bad case.
After all the other doctors have got through, the
heavenly physician comes in. Human sympathy
at such time does not amount to much.
Even the sympathy of the church, l am sorry to
say, often docs not amount to much. l
have seen the most harsh and
those who o''I professod On faith IN Christ
toward those who were wavering and errlng.
They tried on the wanderer sarcasm, and bill
llngsgate, and caricature, and they tried little
tattle. There one thing they did rot try.
and that was forgiveness. soldier in England
was brought by sergeant to acolonel, what"
says the colonel, bringing the man here again.
We have tried everything With him. "Oh.
no, says the sergeant, 'there IS che thing you
have not tried. / would like you to try that"
What is thatl" said the colonel Said the man,
forgiveness" The case had not gone so far
but that it might take that turn, and so the
colonel said: We'll, young man, you have done
so and so. What is your excuses" 81 have no
excuse, but am very sorry said the man.
1--WE have made up our minds to forgive you,.
said the colonel The tears started He had
never been accosted in that way before. His
life was reformed and that was the starting
point for positively Christian life o. church
Quit your irony, quit your title tattle, and try
forgiveness. God your mother tries it all the
time A mans sin may be like continent but
Gods forgiveness is like the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, bounding it on both sides.
The Bible often talks about Gods hand, I
wonder how it looks. You remember distinctly
how your mothers hand looked, though
thirty years ago it wthered away. It was diff
ferent from your. fathers hand. When you
were to be chastised you had rather have mother
punish you than father. 1t did not hurt so
much. And fathers hand was different from
mothers, partly because it had outdoor toll and
partly because God intended it to be different
The knuckles were more firmly set and the
palm was calloused But mothers hand was
more delicate. There were blue veins running
through the back of it. Though the fingers
some OF them. were picked with a needle, the
palm of it was very soft Was there ever
So Gods hand is mothers hand. What it
touches it heals. If it snnite you it does not
hurt as if it were another hand. you poor
wandering soul in sin, it is not a bailiffs hand
that seized you to-day: 1t is not hard hand
1t is not an unsympathetic hand. 1t is not
cold hand. 1t is not an enemy's hand. No; it
is gentle hand, loving hand, a sympathetic
hand, a, soft hand. mothers hand. ."As one
whom his mother comforteth, so will comfort
YOU
I want to say, finally, that God has mothers
way of putting child to sleep. You know
there is no cradle song like mothers. After
the excitement of the evening it is almost i'm
possible to get the child to sleep. If the rocking
chair stop moment the eyes wide open;
but the mothers patience and the mothers
soothing manner keep on until, after while,
the angel of slumber puts his wing over the pill
low. Well, my dear mothers and sisters in
Christ, the time will come when we will be want
ing to be put to sleep. The day of our life will
be done and the shadows of the night of death
will be gathering around us. Then we want
God to soothe us. to hush us to sleep. Let the
music Of our going not be the dirge of the organ,
or the knell of the church tower, or the drum
ming of a dead march, but let it be the hush
of a mothers lullaby. Oh the cradle of the
grave will be soft with tho pillow of all the
promises When we are being rocked into that
last slumber l want this to be the cradle-song:
''As one whom q mother comforteth, so will I
comfort you.s
Asleep in Jesus; far from thee
Thy kindred and their graves may be;
But thine is still a blessed sleep
From which none ever wake to weep"
A Scotchman was dying. His daughter, Nell
lie, sat by the bedside 1t was Sunday evening,
and the bell of the church was ringing calling
the people to church. The good old man, in his
dying dreams, thought that he was on the way
to church, as he used TO be when he went in the
sleigh across the river; and as the evening bell
struck up, in his dying dream he thought it was
the call to church. He sad 'Hark, children,
the bells are ringing; we shall be late; we must
make the mare step out quick He shivered,
and then said, Pull the buffalo robe up closer,
my lass! 1t is cold crossing the river, but we
will soon be there; Nellie we will soon be therei"
And he smiled, and said: ,'Just there now" No
wonder he smiled The good old man had got to
church Not the old country church, but the
temple in the skies-just across the river.
How comfortably did God hush that old man
to sleepl AS one whom his mother comforteth,
so God comforteth him.