Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1889-01-24
Remarks Of Rev A. g. Peck a, the Funer-
al Of Mrs, Robert T Campbell Cherry
fed Dec 25 1888.

How very different things would be IN
this world of sorrowful yicissitudes, IL
only we could have the ordering of event,
at our disposal, We should choose to meet
a. a fc-tal company to-day to exchange
merry Christmas greetings. But Prov
dtncr has not so ordained. ON MANY
another door the messenger of the pale
horse hs> hung Grape this Christmas day.
1t was even 80 on that very morning when
ChrI>t was born. Whilst heavenly hosts
were chanting over the cradle OF his ma
,iry. other angels weru conveying de-
parted spirits home or lowering in sympa
thy over groups of mourning hearts. 1t
is thus that the pendulums Of earth are ey-
er vibrating between smile and a tear
But the same God on whose sovereign will
hang the DEGREES Of lile and death prcside-
impartally over all He who 80 loved the
world to give his only begotten Son for
it, redemption has made everything bcauti-
fui in his time. 1t is part Of the same
plan that there should be JOY and gladur>>
At Bethlehem and In due time sorrow and
tears at Mt Calvary. These two sides Of
life, like Sunshine and shadow, like bleak
December and howcry May strangely
commiuglc in thi, changeful world. The
Christ whose birth all chri>teudom rejoic-
cs over to DAY, embodied in his own mystic
person both the glad and the sad aspects
of hfe There is 4 beautiful sculpture OF
Him, one of whose profiles glows with
sunny smile Of gladness whilst the other
reveals the man Of sorrowS, acquainted
with grief The dark shadows of his cross
hung oven him, even as he lay in his moth
er'> arms in the manger The star of Beth
ehem must pale and sink in darkest mid
night gloom before it could arise as the
bright and morning star of Immortality
and eternal life.
1t is not without significance that God
chose a winter month for his Sons natsi-
ty. Had it been May, that is. the season
Of blossoms had He been born in June,
that is the month Of roses; had it been
July, that i, the season of great harvests
or in September, that is the month of ripe
orchards or in October, that is the epoch
of gorgeously upholstered forests But he
was born in December, when there are no
flowers blooming out of doors, when all
the haryests that have not been gathered
up have pcrished, and when there are no
fruits ripening on the hills and when the
leaves are drifted on the bare earth. 1t
in ~ har hot ha horn
to show that this is Christ for people in
sharp blasts, for people under clouded
SKY for people with frosted hopes, for
people sitting IN the valley OF the
shadow of death.
1t was this December Christ that Wash
ington and his army worshiped at Valley
Forge when without blankets they lay
down in the winter snow. 1t was this De-
cember Christ that the Pilgrim fathers ap-
pealed to when the Mayiower wharfed at
Plymouth Rock and when as the chronicle
tells, the graves dug were more than the
houses built. Oh, it is a December Christ
we want, not a Christ for fair weather but
Christ for dark days clouded with sick
ness and chilling with disappointments and
sutfocating with sadden bereayements and
terrific with wide open graves. As we listen,
in Imagination we can hear the Madonna
Groom and caress her newborn wondrous
child. But ah this suffering and strug-
Cling world needs to be lullabied and sooth-
ed and rocked in the arms of sympathetic
pmninotapce M mother ever with more
tenderness put her foot upon the rocker OF
the cradle of q sick child than Christ
comes down to us, to this invalid, weep
ing world and He rocks 1t into placidity
and quietness as He says, MY peace |
give unto you, not as the world giveth give
/ unto you" To the broken-hearted, the
burden bearers, the mOurners Christmas
tells of December Christ who knows
how SO temper the rude blasts of adversi-
ty to his shorn lambs
The circumstances of our friends depart
ure seem to us very sad. But death is al
WAYS sad, and what can we say for the
consolation of these stricken cnesT 1t Is In
our hearts to say very kind things OF one
who was herself so kind and amiable, gen.
tie and refined. l have no access to the
upper archives where all records are kept,
enabling me to tell how loving mother,
how devoted wife, how faithful friend.
how good neighbor she has been. But
that she has adorned al these relations
and greatly endeared herself TO large circle