News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-09-30

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the fact that you are so invested, and
that eternity presses on toward you, and
that soon your naked soul will step out
and up into the presence of the Eternal
Gcd in judgment, ought not the ques-
tlon of my text resound through the
deepest depths of your immortal nature
when l cry out, SIS it well with thy
soul2" Are your sins pardoned? Are
your sorrows comforted? Is your soul
saved? Is it well with thee for time?
Will it be we'll with thee for eternity?
Now. there may be in the audience many
who are disposed to complain. Hard
ships have come upon them and losses,
and perhaps especial griefs have come
upon them this summer, and they are
more disposed to answer the question OF
the text in the negative. So l draw a
contrast. Brooklyn-Charlest Oh,
when you think of the sorrows of that
city, cannot you thank God for your
homes2 Cannot you thank God for
your priyileges2 Cannot you thank God
for the quiet of this holy Sabbathi
while in that city millionaire and beg
gar crouch together in the open parks
| have been accustomed to create graft
tude in my soul by going down anon
those who have not a comfortable home
and who have not comfortable surround
ings, and to-day compare your condition
with the condition of the so, 900 alright
ened people in that sad city. What a
time of trouble our world has had ever
since by the hand of God it was bowled
into space. 1t is an eplleptic world.
CONFUSION after convulsion. Frosts
striking it with sledgehammer of ice
berg. Fires melting with furnaces seven
hundred times heated. Meteors dartIng
by, grazing it on one side meteors
darting by, grazing it on the other side,
and none of them slowing up for safety.
Whole fiotillas, whole navies, whole ar
gossies of worlds rushing past. 1t is an
amazement to me that long ago it was
not run down and destroyed. Why, our
world is like fishing smack off the coast
of Newfoundland while the Eturia and
the Umbria and the Great Eastern whirl
by. And then our world by sin has
been smitten with internal disorders,
and the machinery of the world ha, all
been damaged so that sometimes the
furnaces burst and the walking beams
of the mountains are broken and islands
ship sea and this great hulk of world
is Jared with accidents that threaten
its immediate demolition. Thirty
six ear hquakes last year in the United
States and Canada; but 1000 earth
quakes reported in the catalogues of the
British Association in the two centuries.
"Oh, ;" we said, 'we live in land that
will never be disturbed; such volcanic
forces cannot strike US, and even if some
times on the Pacific coast there are dis
turbances, not on the Atlantic coast"
Then God comes in this last week and
He shakes this VIII lie continent. 1t is
felt in San Francisco and it is felt in
New York. God is shaking terribly
the nation, and it seems to me there is
a lesson which this pulpit and every
other pulpit ought to interpret for the
people. God is teaching America, He
is teaching all ma ions, that this world
is a poor foundation on which to build.
Oh, we thought if we had everything
insured in the insurance companies all
would be well. Where are the insur-
ance companies that could help that
Charleston calamity? God is thunder
inc from the heavens, 'build on the
rock the Rock of Ages" Build on
the eternal God. That is the founda-
tion that never can be shaken. But |
there comes a lesson of obligation to |
those suffering people. There is not
a city on this continent, it seems to |
me, that has so many reasons for calling |
for the sympathy of the country to-day.
Just think of it. Have you counted up |
the scourges that have come upon this
city? First, the scOurge of war; then, |
IN a few years, the scourge of fire; then,
in few years, the scorge of cholera;
last year the scourge of cyclone, and
now the scourge of earthquake. And
the people do not want God bless yous.
All our prayers will not amount to any
thing unless accompanied by positive
The pleading hands come
up from the debris of that fallen city,
saying: We are hungry, give us bread;
we are homeless, give us shelter; we
are sick, give us cordials" Palsied
will be the car that will not hear and
help. ] stand here to-day to plead for
been despoiled of their living. [ plead
in behalf of homes there, and some of
is have enjoyed their hospitalities. l
plead in behalf of children whose far
5hers have perished under the fallen
walls. l plead in behalf of women
whose hour of anguish has come, and
here is no pillow and there is no roof.
Ay, plead in behalf of Him who said:
= Inasmuch as ye did it to these ye did
It to Me-" 1 know you will not turn
your back upon this suffering. Let the
officers of the church as they go through
hese isles go slowly, remembering the
lmount they gather will decide whether
'ome groanlng men and women shall
i've or die. By so much as we expect
mercy from the Lord in the last day let
is have mercy for others.