Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-07-13


bilts and the railroads, AMI all the plottings
of stock gamblers shall be put to confusion,
and God with His little finger shall wipe out
their infamous projects How oft II it has
been that we have seen men gather up riches
by fraud, in a pyramid of strength and
beauty, and the Lord came and blew on it
and it was gone: while there are those here
TO day who,if they could speak out in this as
semblage, or dared to speak out would saw.
"Ihe best friend had in 1887 the best friend
had in 1851; the best friend had at the
opening OF the war; the best friend ever
had has been the Lorl Jesus Christ would
rather give up all other friends than this
One'
Butwe have also family friends. They
come in when We have sickness in the house
hold. Perhaps they say nothing but they
sit down and they weep as the light goes out
from the bright eyes and the white petals of
the lily are scattered in the blast OF death.
They watch through the long night by the
dying couch, and then, when the spirit has
gone, sooth you with great comfort. They
say: Don't cry. Jesus pities YOU. All is
well. You will meet the lost one again"
| Then, when your son went off breaking your
heart did they not come and put the story in
the very best shape and prophecy the return
of the prodgall We're they not in your
house when the birth angel tapped its wings
over your dwellingF And they have been
, there at the baptisms and at the weddings.
| Family friends! But | have to tell you that
! Christ is the best family friend. Oh,
blessed is that cradle over which Jesus
bends. Blessed is that nursery where Jesus
walks Blessed is that sick brow from which
Jesus wipes the dampneSS Blessed is that
table where Jesus breaks the bread. Blessed
is that grave where Jesus stands with His
| SCARED feet on the upturned sod, saying: 81
am the resurrection and the life; he that be-
lieveth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall
| he live Have you a babe in the house?
Put it into the arms of the great Child
Lover, Is there a sick one in the house9
Think of Him who said "Damse arise"
Are you afraid you will come to want! Think
of Him who fed the five thousand. Is there
little one in your house that you are afraid
will be blind or deaf or lame? Think of
Him who touched the blinded eye and
snatched back the boy from epileptic con-
vulsion. Oh, He is the best friend. Look
over your family friends to-day and find an
| other that can be compared to Him. When
We want our friends they are sometimes
OUT or town Christ is always in town
We find that some will stiCk to us in
prosperity who will not in adversity.
But Christ comes through darkest night
and amid CHASTITY sorrow, and across
roughest sea, to comfort you. There are
men and women here who would have been
dead twenty years ago but for Jesus. They
have gone through trial enough to exhaust
ten times their physical strength. Their
property went. their health went, their fami-
lies were scattered. God only knows what
they suffered. They are an amazement to
themselves that they have been able to stand
it. They look at their once happy home,
surrounded by all comfort. Gone They
think of the time when they use to rise
strong in the morning and walk vigorously
down the street, and had experienced a
health they thought inexhaustible. Gonel
Everything gone but Jesus. He has pitied
them His eye has watched them. His ON
impotence has defended them Yes, He has
been with them. They have gone through
disaster,and He was pillar Of fire by night.
| They have gone across stormy Galilee, but
Christ had His foot on the neck of the storm.
| They felt the waves Of trouble coming up
around them gradually, and they began to
climb into the strong rock of Gods de-
fense, and then they sang as they looked
strength en- ever present help in time of
trouble; therefore we will not fear though
the earth be removed, though the mountains
| be carried into the midst of the sea, though
the waters thereof roar and he troubled,
| though the mountains shake with the swell
ing thereof. Se'ah." The other day there
was sailor who came into the Bethel in New
! York, and said: "My lads (he was standing
among sailors, | don't know what's the
matter with me. used TO hear good deal
about religion and about Jesus Christ.
| don't know that have any religion, or that
| know anything much about Christ; but
when | was in mid-Atlantic | looked up one
day through the rigging, and there seemed to
come light through my soul. l have felt diff
ferent ever SINCE and love those l once
hated, and I feel 9 joy can't tell you. |
| really don't know what is the matter Of me-
A rough sailor got up and said: "My lad, |
know what's the matter of you. You have
found Jesus. 1t is enough to make any man
happy"
His worth II oil the nations knew
Sure the whole earth would love him too.
I remark again. Christ is precious to the
believer, as q final deliverer' You and !
must after awhile get out Of this world
Here and there, one perhaps may come on to
eighty, to ninety years Of age, but your com:
mon sense tells you that the next twenty five
years will land the majority of this audience
in eternity. The next ten years will thin out
great many of these family circles. This
day may do the work for some of us. Now,
why do say this' To scare you? No; but
just as | would stand in your office, if l were
a business man, and talk over risks. You do
not consider it cowardly to talk in your
store over temporal risks. Is 1T base in us
this morning TO talk little while over the
risks Of the soul, that are for eternity. In
every congregation death has the last
year been doing great deal 'ol
work, Where is your father' Where
is your mother9 Your child? Your brother
Your sister! 0, how cruel does death seen
to bel Will he pluck avery flower? Will he
prison every fountain Will He put black or
every door knob! Will He snap every heart
stringa Can l keep nothings Are there nc
charmed weapons with which to go out and
, contend against Him! Give me some keer
sword, ,sharpehod IN G92ds armory, with
some battle ak that may clutch it, and heW
him from helmet to sandal. Thank God
thank God, that he that rideth on the pale
horse hath more than a match in Him who
rideth on the white horse. ST. john hearC
the contest, the paving of the steeds, th'
rush, the battle cry, the onset, until the pale
, horse came down on his launches, and hi
! rider bit the dust, while Christ the con
, queror with uplifted voice, declared it, "0f
! death, will be thy plague; o grave, ! vii
! be thy destruction
The sepulcher is lighted castle on tn
, shore Of heavenly seas, and sentinel angel
/ walk UP and down at the door to guard it
! The dust and the damppess of the grave ar
only the spray Of the white surf of celestia
! seas, and the long breathing of the dyinl
! Christian, that you call his gasping, is onli
the long inhalation of the air of heaven. oh
bless God for what Christ is to the Christian
soul, here and hereafterl
: l heard man say some time ago that the,
: never laugh in heaven. do not know wher
1 he got his authority for that l think they
! do laugh in heaven. When victors conn
/, home, do we not laugb9 When fortunes ar
! won in day, do we not laugh' After W
/ have been ten or fifteen years away from
. our friends and we greet them again, do W
not laugh! Yes, we will laugh in heaven
Not hollow laughter, not meaningless
laughter, but a full, round, cleal
, deep, resonant outbreak of eterna
I. gladness. Oh, the gee of that moment whe
, we first see Jesus2 think we will take TIL
first two OF three years in heaven to look a
, Jesus: and if, in ten thousand years, ther
hould be a moment when the doxolog
paused, ten thousand souls would cry out