The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-08-02

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bridge of boatsl Who fears because Nebu
chadnezzar thunders at the gates of Jerisa
lem! Who cares now whether or not Cleopatra
marries Antony! Who crouches before Fer
dinand, or Boniface, or Alarics Can Crom
well dissolve the English parliament now
Is William, Prime Of Orange, King of tn,
Netherlands? No, mol However mucl
Elizabeth NAV love the Russian crown. sh
must pass 1t to Peter, ana feter to Catherine
and Catherine to Paul, and Paul to Alex
ander, and Alexander to Nicholas. Leopold
puts the German scepter into the hand ol
Joseph, and Philip comes down off the Span
ish throne to let Ferdinand 60 on. House ol
Stuart, house of Bourbon, quarrelina
about everything else, but agreeing
in this: 'trhe fashion of this worle
passeth away" But have all these dignita
ries gone? Can they not be called back2
have been In assemblages where have heard
the roll called, and many distinguished men
have answered If l should call the roll to
day Of some of those mighty ones who have
gone wonder il they would not answer.
will call the roll. l will call the roll of th.
Kings first: Alfred the Greati William th,
Conquerorl Frederick III Louis XVII M
answer. ! will call the role Of ths posts
Robert Southeyi Thomas Campbelli John
Keatsl George Grabbed Robert Burnsl No
answer. call the roll Of artists: Michael
Angelol Paul veronesel William Turnerl
| Christopher Wren! No answer. Eyes
closed Ears deaf. Lips silent Hands pal.
sled. Scepter, pencil, pen, sword, put down
forever. Why should we struggle for such
| baubles?
Another reason why we should culture this
spirit of cheerfulness is the fact that God
knows what is best for His creatures. You
know what is best for your child He thinks
| you are not as liberal with him as you ought
to be. He criticises your discipline, but you
look over the whole field, and you, loving
that child, do what in your deliberate judg-
ment is best for him. Now, God is the best
of fathers. Sometimes his children think
that he is hard on them, and that he is not as
liberal with them as he might be. But chill
dren do not know as much as father. l
can tell you why you are not largely atfiuent,
and whv you have not been grandly success
tuL 1t is because you cannot stand rne Temp
tation. If your path had been smooth, you
would have depended upon your own
surefootedness; but God roughened that
| path, so you have to take hold Of
bis hand. If the weather had been
iaild, you would have loitered along the
water courses, but at the first how. j: tho
storm you quickened your pace heavenward
and wrapped around you the warm robe Of a
Soviour's righteousness. "What have I
toneT says the wheatsheaf to the farmer;
what have done that you beat me so hard
with your flailN The farmer makes no
answer, but the rake takes off the straw, and
the mill blows the chaff to the wind, and the
golden grain falls down at the foot of the
windmill. After a while, the straw looking,
down from the NOW upon the golden grain
banked up on either side the floor under
stands why the farmer beat the wheatsheaf
with the fail.
Who are those before the throne! The an.
swer came: These are they who, out Of
frsl, hnIf fL,osr.
made white in the blood of the lamb"
Would God that we could understand that
our trials are the very best thing for us. il
we had an appreciation of that truth, then
we should know why it was that John
Noyra, the martyr, in the very midst Of the
fame, reached down and picked up one Of
the fagots that was consuming him, and
kissed It, and said: blessed be- God for the
time when l was born for this preferment."
They who suffer with Him on earth shall be
glorifed with Him in heaven Be content,
then, with such things as you have
Another consideration leading us to the
spirit of the text is the assurance that the
Lord will provide somehow. Will he who
holds the water in the hollow Of his hand
low his children to die of thirsts viii he
who owns the cattle on thousand hills. and
all the earths luxuriance of grain and fruit,
allow his children to starve! Go out to-
morrow morning at o'clock in the woods
and hear the birds chant. They have had no
breakfast, they know not where they will
but hear the birds chant at 5 o'clock in the
morning. Behold the fowls of the air;
for they SOW not, neither do they reap, nor
Father foedeth them. Are you not
much better than theyp Seven thousand
people, in Christ's time, went into the desert.
They were the most improvident people
oun haar nf NAV A0c ctr I,rv,
might have taken food enough to last them
until they got back. Nothing did they take.
A lad, who had more wit than all of them
put together, asked his mother that morning
for some loayes Of bread and some fishes.
They were put into his sachel. He went out
into the desert. From this provision the
seven thousand were fed, and the more they
ate the larger the loaves grew until the pro-
vision that the boy brought in one sachel was
multiplied so he could not have carried the
fragments home in six sachels. "O," you say,
''times have changed, and the day of miracles
has gone" reply that, what God did theD
by miracle, He does now in some other way,
and 6y natural laws II have been young"
said David, but now l am old; yet have l
never seen the righteous forsaken, nor His
seed begging bread It is high time that
you people who are fretting about worldly
circumstances. and who are fearing you are
coming to want, understood that the oath OF
the eternal God is involved in the fact that
you are to have enough to eat and to wear.
Again: remark that the religion of Jesus
Christ is the grandest influence to make
man contented. Indemnity against all finan-
cial and spiritual harm! 1t calms the spirit,
dwindles the earth into insignificance, and
swallows up the soul with the thought of
heaven. 0 ye who have been going about
from place to place expecting to find in
change of circumstances something to give
fN fha r,irit I and Il
morning, to the warm hearted earnest, prac-
tical, common sense religion Of the Lord
Jesus Christ "There is no peace, saith my
God, for the wicked, and as long as you con.
tinue in your sin you will be miserable.
Come to Christ Make Him your portion,
and start for HEAVIER, and you will be happy
nan-vou will bs a haDDv woman.
Yet, my friends, notwithstanding all these
Inducements to spirit of contentment,
have to tell you this morning the human
race is divided into two classes those who
scold and those who get scolded. The car
penter wants to be anything but carpenter,
and the mason anything but mason, and
the banker anything but banker, and the
lawyer anything but a lawyer, and the min
ister anything but q minister, and everybody
would be happy if he were only somebody
else. The anemone wants to be sunhower,
and the apple orchards throw down their
blossoms because they are not tall cedars
and the scow wants to be schooner, and the
sloop would like to be seventy-f four pounder,
and parents have the worst children that ever
were, and everybody has the greatest mis-
fortune, and everything is upside down, or
going to be- Ali my friends, you never
make any advance through such a spirit as
that You cannot fret yourself up; you
may fret yourself down. Amid all this graf
ing OF tones strike this string of the Gospel
harp: "Godliness with contentment is great