The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-07-19

But we have also family friendA 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. AL 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 prodiEali Were they not in your
house when the birth angel tapped its wings
! over your dwelling? And they h6Ts been
there at the baptisms and at the weddings.
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 whSre Jesus stands with His
Scared feet on the uptur1ed sod, saying: II
| 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 housei
Put it into the arms of the great Child
Lover. Is there sick one in the housel
Are you afraid you will come to wdnts 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 lames Think Of
Him who touched the blinded eye and
snatched back the boy from epileptic con-
vulson. Oh. He is the best friend. Look
over your family friends today and find an
other that can be compared to Him When
We want our friends they are sometimes
out Of town Christ Is always in town.
We find that some will sti(k 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
themselves that they have been able to stand
it. They look at their once happy home,
surrounded by all comfort. Gonei They
think of the time when thew 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 om-
Impotence has defended them. Yes. He has
been with thetii 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
over the waters: "God is Our refuge and
strength, an ever present help id 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 be troubled.
though the mountains shake with the SWELL
Ing thereof. Selah." The other day there
was sailor who came into the Bethel in New
York, and said: "My lads (he was standing
ron~ 'ors, I don't know what's the
used to hear good iler'
4,d about Jesus c.
~. chat have any religion, Or that
l know anything much about Christ; but
when was in mid d-Atlantic 1 looked up one
day through the rigging, and there seemed to
come light through my soul. have felt diff
ferent ever since, and love those I once
hated, and | feel a 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 all the nations knew
Sure tho whole earth would love him too
!. remark again: Christ is precious to the
| believer, as final deliverer You and l
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
a great many of these family circles. This
day may do the work for some of US Now,
why do say thisa To scare you! No; bnt
| 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 of
work Where is your father! Where
is your mother9 Your childl Your brother1
Your ssters o, how cruel does death seem
to be! Will he pluck avery fiowerl Will he
every door knobs Will He snap every heart
string' Can keep nothingl Are there no
charmed weapons with which to go out and
contend against Him? Give me some keen
sword, sharpened in Gods armory, with
which I may stab him through Give me
/ 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 heard
the contest, the paving of the steeds, the
| rush. the battle cry, the onset, until the pale
| uOIS0 CdIue uoWU vi HIS IduUCueS, uLu LIS
rider bit the dust, while Christ the con-
queror,- with uplifted voice, declared it: "Oh
death, will be thy plague; o grave, I will
be thy destruction
The sepulcher is a lighted castle on the
shore of heavenly sens, and sentinel angels
walk up and down at the door to guard it
! Tne dust and the dampness of the grave are
only the spray Of the white surf of celestial
| seas, and the long breathing of the dying
Christian, that you call his gasping. is only
the long inhalation of the air of heaven. Oh,
bless God for what Christ is to the Christian
| soul, here and hereafter!
! heard man say some tims ago that they
never laugh in heaven. / do not know where
he got his authority for that. think they
do laugh in heaven. When victors come
home do we not laugha When fortunes are
won in day, do we not laugh. After we
I have been ten or fifteen years away from
our friends and we greet them again, do we
not laugh? Yes, we will laugh in heaven.
Not hollow laughter. not meaningless
laughter, but a full, round, clear,
deep. resonant outbreak of eternal
gladness Oh, the glee of that moment when
we first see Jesus9 think we will take the
| first two or three years i'll heaven TO look al
Jesus: and if, in ten thousand years, there
| should be moment when the doxology
paused, ten thousand souls would cry out:
"Sing! singw and when the cry was: What
shall we singr the answer would be: Jesus
l
heaven: do not care SO much about them.
You may have all the robes in heaven; do
not care SO much about them You may
have all the sceptres in heaven; do not care
so much about them. You may have all the
thrones in heaven; do not care SO much
about them. But give me Jesus-that is
enough heaven for me-. o Jesus! long to
see Thee. Thou "Chief among ten thousand
the One altogether lovely"
There may be some here who have come
hardly knowing why they come Perhaps il
was as in Paufs time-you have come to heer
what this babbler sayeth; but | am glad to
meet you face to face, and to strike hands
with you 10 one earnest talk about your
deathless spirit. Do you know, my friend
that this world is not good enough for you
1t cheats. 1t fades. 1t dies. You are immortal
Isee it in the deathless spirit looking out from
your eye 1t is a mighty spirit 1t is ar
immortal spirit. 1t beats against the window
of the cage. / come out to feed it. During
the past week the world has been trying tC
feed it with husks. 1 come out this morning
to feed it with that bread of which if a mar
eat he will never hunger. What has the
world done for youi Has it not bruised you
Hes it not betrayed You. Has it not NAL
treated youi Look me in the eye, immortal
man, and tell me il that is not So And yet