The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-09-14
NUMBER 13.

dIiu U6TTOT btTuCk. DuU i WduC mOI6 OIL ILL.,
I have thought over this text and preached
this sermon to myself until with all the
aroused energies Of my body, mind and soul,
I can cry out: Gas the hart panteth after
the water brooks, SO panteth my soul after
thee, o God"
Through Jesus Christ, make this God your
God, and you can Withstand anything and
everything, and that which affrights others
will inspire you. As in time of an earth
quake, when an old Christian woman was
asked whether she was scared, answered: 'No,
/ am glad that I have a God who can shake
the world;' or, as in a financial panic, when
q Christian merchant was asked If he did not
fear he would break, answered: eyes; Ishall
break when the flftieth Psalm breaks in the
fifteenth verse: Call upon me in the day Of
trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt
glorify me-" Oh Christian men and women,
pursued of a~nnoyances and exasperatjons,
remember that this hunt, whether a still
hunt or a hunt in full cry, will soon be over.
If ever a whelp looks ashamed and ready to
stink out of sight, it Is when in the Adj
rondacks a deer, by one long, ire
mendoAs plunge into Big Upper lake, gets
away from him. The disappointed canine
swims in a little way, but, defeated, swims
out again and cringes with Inundated yawn
at the feet of his master. And how abashed
and ashamed will all your earthly troubles
be when you have dashed into the river from
under the throne Of God, and the heights
and depths Of heaven are between you and
your pursuers. We are told in Revelation
xii, Is: without are dogs" by which
I conclude there Is q whole kennel Of hounds
outside the gate Of heaven. or. as when q
master goes in a door, his dog lies OF the
steps waiting for him to come out, so the
troubles Of this life may follow US to the
shining door, but they cannot get in. "With-
out are dogsl" / have seen dogs, and owned
dogs, that I would not be chagrined to see In
the heavenly city. Some Of the grand
old watchdogs who are the c~enstabulary of
the homes in solitary places, and for years
have been the only protection Of wife and
child; some of the shepherd dogs that drive
back the wolves and bark away the hocks
from going too near the precipice; and some
Of the dogs whose neck and paw Landseer,
the painter, has made immortal, would not
find me shutting them out from the gate Of
shining pearl. Some Of those DID st. Ber-
nard dogs that nave lifted perishing travel
ers out Of the Alpine snow; the dog that
John Brown, the Scotch essayist, saw ready
to spring at the surgeon, lest, in removing the
cancer, he too much hurt the poor woman
whom the dog felt bound to protect; and
dogs that we caressed in our childhood
days, or that in later time laid down on
the rug in seeming sympathy when our
homes were desolated. I say, If some soul
entering heaven should happen to leave the
gate ajar and these faithful creatures should
quietly walk in. 1t would not at all disturb
my heaven. But all those hlanan or brutal
hounds that ave chased and torn and LAGER
ated the world; yea, all that now bite or
worry or tear to pieces, shall be prohibited.
without are dogsl" No place there for
harsh critics or backbiters or despoilers Of
the reputation Of others. Down with you to
the kennels of darkness and despairi The
hart has reached the eternal water brooks,
and the painting Of the long chase is Quoted
in still pastures, and there shall Be nothing
to hunt or destroy in all Gods holy mount"
Oh, when some Of you get there it will be
like what a hunter tells Of when he was push
ing his canoe far up north In the winter,
and amid the ice foes, and a hundred miles,
as he thought, from any other human be-
ings. He was startled one day as he heard q
stepping on the ice, and he cooked the rife,
ready to meet anything that came near. he
found a man, barefooted and insane from
long exposure, approaching him. Taking
him into his canoe and kindling fires to
warm him, he restored him, and found out
where he had lived, and took him to his
home, and found all the village In
great excitement. A hundred men
were searching for this lost man, and his
family and friends rushed out to meet him; |
and as had been agreed at his first appear
ance, bells were rung and guns were dis
and banquets spread and the rescuer
loaded with presents. Well, when some Of
you step out Of this wilderness, where you
nave been chilled and torn and sometimes
lost amid the icebergs, into the warm greet
tngs of all the villages Of the g1ori6ed, and
your friends rush out to give you a welcom-
ing kiss, the news that there Is an
other SOU forever saved will call the
caterers Of heaven to spread the ban
quet, and the bell men to lay hold Of the
rope In the tower, and while the chalices
click at the feast, and the bells clang from
the towers, it will be scene so uplifting I
pray God I may be there to take part In the
merriment. And now do you not
think the prayer In Solomon's song, where
he compared Christ to q reindeer coming
down in the night to pasture on the plains,
would make an exquisitely appropriate pero-
ration to my sermon: "Unti1 the day break
and the shadows fee away, be thou like q roe
or a young hart upon the mountains Of
Bether,"