The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-07-13

fculties Of respiration, OF digestion, OF
locomotion. make up the great obstacle
in your life, and you tug and sweat along
the pathway and wonder when the ex-
haustion will end. My friends, the
brightest crowns in heaven will not be
given to those who, in stirrups, dashed
to the cavalry charge, while the general
applauded and the sound of clashing
sabers rang through the land; but the
brightest crowns in heaven, I believe,
will be given to those who trudged on
amid chronic ailments which unnerved
their strength, yet all the time main
tanning their faith in God. It is COM
paratively easy to fight in regiment Of
thousand men, charging up the para
pets to the sound of martial music; but
1t is not so easy to endure when no one
but the nurse and the doctor are the wit
nesses of the Christian fortitude. Be-
sides that you never had any pains worse
than Christ's. The sharpnesses that
stung through his brain, through his
hands. through his feet, through his
heart, were as great as yours certainly.
He was as sick and as weary. Not q
nerve, or muscle, or ligament escaped.
All the pangs of all the nations of all the
ages compressed into one sour cup. He
took the vinegar!
There is also the sourness of poverty.
Your income does not meet your out
goings, and that always gives an honest
man anxiety. There is no sign of desti-
tuition about you-pleasant appearance
and cheerful home for you; but God
only knows what time you have had to
manage your private finances. just as
the bills run up the wages seem to run
down. But you are not the only one
who has not been paid for hard work.
The treat Wilkie sold his celebrated
piece, 1.-THE Blind Fiddler" for fifty
guineas, although afterward it brought
its thousands. The world hangs in adj
miration over the sketch of Gains
borough, yet that very sketch hung
for years in the shop window because
there was not any purchaser. Oliver
Goldsmith sold his "Vicar Of Wake
field" for few pounds, in order to
keep the bailiff out of the door; and the
vast majority Of men in all occupations
and professions are not fully paid for
their work. You may say nothing, but
life to you is hard push; and when you
sit down with your wife and talk over
the expenses, you both rise up discour-
aged. You abridge here, and you abridge
there, and you get things snug for smooth
sailings, and 10 suddenly there is large
doctors bill to pay, or you have lost your
pocketbook, or some creditor has failed,
and you are thrown abeam end. Well,
brother, you are in glorious company.
Christ owned not the house in which he
stopped, or the colt on which he rode, or
the boat in which he sailed. He lived
in borrowed house; he was buried
in borrowed grave. Exposed to all
kinds of weather, yet he had only
one suit of clothes. He breakfasted in
the morning, and no one could possibly
tell where he could get anything to eat
before night. He would have been pro-
nounced financial failure. He had to
perform a miracle to get money to pay
tax bill. Not dollar did he own. Pri-
walton of domesticity; privation of nutri
tious food; privation of comfortable
couch OH which to sleep; privation of all
worldly resources The kings of the
earth had chased chalices out of which to
drink; but Christ had nothing but a plain
cup set before him, and it was very sharp,
and it was very sour. He took the
vinegar.
There also is the sourness of bereave-
ment. There were years that passed
along before your family circle was in
vaded by death; but the moment the
charmed circle was broken everything
seemed to dissolve. Hardly have you
put the black apparel in the wardrobe
before you have again to take it out.
Great and rapid changes in your family
record. You got the house and reioiced |
in it, but the charm was gone as soon as
the Grape hung on the door bell. The
one upon whom you most depended was
taken away from you. A cold marble
slab lies on your heart today. Once, as
the children romped through the house,
you put your hand over your aching
head and said: "Oh, if could only have
it STILL" Oh, it is too still now. You
lost your patience when the tops and the
strings and the shells were left amid
floor; but oh, you would be willing to
have the trinkets scattered all over
The floor again, if they were scat
,ered by the same hands. With
what ruthless plowshare bereave-
nent rips up the heart. But Jesus
Knows all about that. You cannot tell
him anything new in regard to bereave-
nent. He had only few friends, and
when he lost one it brought tears to his
Eyes. Lazarus had often entertained
him at his house. Now Lazarus is dead
md buried, and Christ breaks down with
convulsion of grief shud-
lering through all the ages of bereave-
nent. Christ knows what it is to 90
through the house missing familiar in
nate. Christ knows what it is to see an
lnoccupied place at the table. Were
here not four of them-Mary, and
Martha, and Christ, and Lazarus9 Four
# them. But where lie Lazarus? Lonely
md afflicted Christ, his great loving eyes
lied with tears, which drop from eye to
heck, and from cheek to beard, and
rom beard to robe, and from robe to
loor. Oh, yes, yes, he knows all about
he loneliness and the heartbreak. He
ook the vinegarl
Then there is the sourness of the death
lour. Whatever else we may escape,