The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-09-14

In the fifteenth verse Call upon me in
the day of trouble; will deliver thee
and thou shalt glorify me. f" o Chris.
tian men and women, pursued Of
annoyances and exasperations, remember
that this hunt, whether still hunt or
hunt in full cry, will soon be over. II
ever whelp looks ashamed and ready to
stink out Of sight 1t Is when sin the
Adirondacks deer by one long, tremen-
dous plunge into Big Upper lake gets
away from him. The disappointed canine
swims In little way, but, defeated,
swims out again and cringes with humili-
ated yawn at the feet of his master. And
how abashed and ashamed will all your
earthly troubles be when you have dashed
into the river from under the throne Of
God, and the heights and depths of heaven
are between you and your pursuers We
are told in Revelation xxi, 10: "Without
are dogs" by which conclude there is
whole kennel Of hounds outside the
gate of heaven, or, as when a master
goes in door his dog lies on the steps
waiting for him to come out, SO the
troubles of this life may follow us to the
shining door, but they cannot get in.
without are dogsl' have seen dogs
and owned dogs that I would not be
chagrined to see in the heavenly city.
Some of the grand old watch dogs who
are the constabulary of the homes in SOL
itary places, and for years have been the
only protection of wife and child; some
of the shepherd dogs that drive
back the wolves and bark away
the focks from going too near the
precipice; and some Of the dogs whose
neck and paw Landseer, the painter, has
made immortal, would not find me shut
ting them out from the gate of shining
pearl. Some of those old st. Bernard
dogs that have lifted perishing travellers
out of the Alpine snow; the dog that
John Brown, the Scotch essayist, saw
ready to spring at the surgeon lest, in
removing the cancer, he too much hurt
the poor woman whom the dog felt
bound to protect; and dogs that we
caressed in our childhood days, OF
that in later time lay down on
the rug in seeming sympathy when our
homes were desolated. l say, if some
soul entering heaven should happen to
leave the gate ajar and these faithful
creatures should quietly walk in, it
would not at all disturb my heaven. But
all those human or brutal hounds that
have chased and torn and lacerated the
world; yea, all that now bite or worry
or tear to pieces, shall be prohibited.
"Without are dogsp' No place there
for harsh critics or backbiters or despoil-
ers of the reputation of others. Down
with you to the kennels of darkness and
nal water brooks, and the painting of the
long chase is quoted in still pastures,
and '"There shall be nothing to hunt or
destroy in all Gods holy mount"
Oh, when some of you get there it
will be like what hunter tells of when
he was pushing his canoe far up north in
the winter and amid the ice foes, and
hundred miles, as he thought, from any
other human beings. He was startled
one day as he heard a stepping on the
ice and he cooked the rifle ready to meet
anything that came near. He found
man, barefooted and insane from long
exposure, approaching him. Taking him
into his canoe and kindling fires to warm
him, he restored him and found out
where he had lived, and took him to
his home and found all the village in
great excitement. A hundred men were
searching for this lost man, and his
family and friends rushed out to meet
him, and, as had been agreed, at his first
appearance bells were rung and guns
were discharged and banquets spread,
and the rescuer loaded with presents.
Well, when some of you step out of this
wilderness, where you have been chilled
and torn and sometimes lost amid the
icebergs. into the warm greetings of all
the villages Of the glorified, and your
friends rush out to give you welcoming
a kiss, the news that there is another
soul forever saved will call the caterers
Of heaven to spread the banquet, and
the bell men to lay hold of the rope in
the tower, and while the chalices click at
the feast, and the bells clang from the
towers, it will be scene so uplifting l |
pray God may be there to take part in
the celestial merriment. And now do
you not think the prayer in Solomon's
song, where he compared Christ to rein
deer coming down in the night to pasture
on the plains, would make an exquisitely |
peroration to my sermon:
"Until the day break and the shadows
fee away, be thou like roe or a young