Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-04-20

you, he has sheltered you, he watched you
last night ne viii watch you tonight. de
wants 10 love you, wants 10 help you, wants
70 save you, wants to comfort you. de was
your fathers God and your mothers God.
de has housed them from the blast, and he
wants 70 shelter you. Will you spit in his
face by an imprecation Win you ever
thrust him back by an OATH
Who is this Jesus whose name L heard in
the lmprecatlonl Has he pursued you all
your life long What vie thing has he done
to you that you should so dishonor his name
Why, he was the Lamb whose blood sim
nered in the fires Of sacrifice for you He is
the brother that took off his crown that you
might put it on. He has pursued you all
your life long with mercy He wants you
to love him, wants you to serve him He
comes with streaming eyes and broken heart
and blistered feet to save you. On the craft
of our doomed humanity he pushed out into
the sea to take you off the wreck.
Where is the hand that will ever be lifted
In imprecation againl Let that hand, now
blood tipped, be lifted that may see 1t. Not
one. Where is the voice that will ever be
uttered in dishonoring the name of that
Christi Let it speak now. Not one. Not
one. Oh, am glad to know that all these
vices Of the community, and these crimes of
our city will be gone. Society is going to be
bettered. The word by the powerof Christs
this iniquity, and all the other iniquities will
vanish before the rising of the sun of right
eousriess upon the nation.
There was one day in New England memoir
able for storm and darkness | hardly ever
saw such an evening. The clouds which had
been gathering all day unlimbered their bat
teries. The Housatonic, which flows quietly,
save as the paddles OF pleasure parties rattle
the oar locks, was dashed into foam, and
the waves hardly knew where to lay them
selves.
Obi what time it wasl The hills Jared
under the rumbling of Gods chariot. Blind
ing sheets of rain drove the cattle to the
bars, or beat against the window pane as
though to dash it i'll. The grain fields threw
their crowns of gold at the feet of the storm
king When night came in it was double
night. Its mantle was torn with the light
nings, and into its locks were twisted the
leaves of uprooled oaks and the shreds of
canvass torn from the masts of the beached
shipping 1t was such night as makes you
thank God for shelter, and open the door to
let in the spaniel bowling outside with terror
We went to sleep under the full blast of
heavens great orchestra, the forests with up
lifted voices. in chorus that filed the noun
tains prasing the Lord. We woke not until
the fingers of the sunny morn touched our
eyelidS. We looked out the window and the
Housatonic slept as quiet as an infants
dream. Pillars of cloud set against the sky
looked liked the castles of the best built for
heavenly hierarchs on the beach of the azure
sea- All the trees sparkled as though there
had been some great grief in heaven, and
each leaf had been God appointed to catch an
angels tear. 1t seemed as if our Father had
looked upon the earth, His hayward child
and stopped to her tear-wet cheek and kissed
it. So will the darkness OF sin and crime
leave our world before the dawn of the morn
ing. The light shall gild the city spre and
strike the forests of Maine and the masts oil
Mobile, and all between. And one end rest
ing on the Atlantic coast and the other rest
ing on the Pacific beach, God will spring a
great rainbow arch of peace, in token Of
everlasting covenant that the world shall
never more see deluge of crime.
But" says some one, preaching against
the evils of society will accomplish nothing
Do you not see that the evils go right onl"
answer, we are not at all discouraged.
1t seemed Insignificant for Moses to stretch
his hand over the Red sea. What power
could that have over the waters? But tn,
east wind blew all night; the waters gath
cred into two glittering palisades on eithe
side. The pillows reared as Gods hanC
pulled back upon their crystal bits. Vince
into line oh Israel! March! March! Pearl
crash under their feet The shout of host
mounting the beach answers the shout o
hosts mid sea, until, as the last line of tn,
lsraelites have gained the beach, the shield
clang and the cymbals clap, and as the wa
tiers whelm the pursuing foe the swift fin
gered winds on the white keys of the foar
play the grand march of Israel delivered
and the awful dirge of Egyptian overthrow
So we 90 forth. and stretch out the hand o
prayer and Christian effort over these dark
boiling waters of crime and sin AHA
Aha" says the deriding world. But wait
The winds of divine help will begin to blow
the way will clear for the great army o.
Christian philanthropists; the glitterine
treasures of the worlds beneficence will lin
the path of our feet; and to the other shor
we will be greeted with the clash of al
heavens cYmbals; while those who resis
and deride and pursue us will fall under tn
sea, and there will be nothing left Of then
but here and there, cast high and dry upol
the beach, the splintered wheel of a chariot
and, thrust out from the surf, the breathles
nostril of riderless charger.