The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-12-05

single out the dwelling In which there was
only one heart beating responsive 10 yourss
why did God give you child at all, II He
meant 10 take il away Why fill the cup of
your gladness trimming, If He meant TO dash
II DOWN Why allow all the tendrils Of your
heart To wind around that object and then
when every fibre Of your own life seemed 10
be interlocked with the child's life, with
strong hand to tear you apart, until you fall
bleeding and crushed your dwelling desolate
your hopes blasted, your heart brokens Do
YOU suppose tnat uou WIN explain tnaty Yea
He will make it palmer than any msthemat
zeal problem-as plain as that two and two
make four. In the light of the throne YOU
will see that IL was right-all right. "Just
and true are all Thy ways, Thou King OF
Saints
Here Is man who cannot get on in the
world He always seems 10 buy at the
wrong time and 10 sell at the worst disad-
vantage, He tries this enterprise, and fails.
that business. and is disappointed. The man
next door 10 him has a lucrative trade, but
he lacks customers. A new prospect opens.
His income is increased But that year his
family are sick; and the profits are expended
in trying 10 cure the ailments He gets
discouraged look. Becomes faithless to
success, Begins to expect disasters. Others
wait for something to turn up; he waits for
II to turn down. Others, with only half az
much education and character, get on twice
as well, He sometimes guesses as TO what it
all means. He says: perhaps riches would
spoil me- Perhaps poverty is necessary to
keep me humble. Perhaps might, If things
were otherwise, be tempted into dissipa-
tons But there is no complete solution of
the mystery. He sees through glass, dark
", and must wait for a higher unfolding
win there be an explanation? Yes; God
will take that man in the light of the throne,
and say: Child immortal, hear the explana-
ton You remember the falling of that
great enterprise, This is the explanation"
And Won viii answer st is all rightr'
! see, every day. profound mysteries Of
Providence, There is no question we ask
oftener than Why? There are hundreds of
graves that need to be explained. Hospitals
for the blind and lame. asylums for the lido
tic and insane, almshouses for the destitute.
and world of pain and misfortune that de
mand more than human solution. All God
will clear it all up. In the light that pours
from the throne no dark mystery can live.
Things now utterly inscrutable will be il
! lumined as plainly as though the answer
were written on the jasper wall or sounded
! in the temple anthem Bartimeus will thank
| God that he was blind and Lazarus that he
was covered with sores and Joseph that he
was cast into the pit and Daniel that he
! denned with lions; and Paul that he was
| numppacxed, and David that he was driven
liDHl anu lilb StWlHS t1dD
| she could'get only a few pence for making
| garment; and that invalid that for twenty
| years he could not lift his head from the pill
| low; and that widow that she had such bard
1 work to earn bread for her children. You
| know that in song different voices carry
/ different parts The sweet and oyerwhelm-
| ne part of the haieldiah of heaven will not
| be carried by those who rode in high places,
and gave sumptGous entertainments; but
| pauper children will sing it, beggars will
! sing it, redeemed hod-carrjers will sing it.
! those who were once the offscotTing of earth
| will sing it. The hallelulah will be all the
! grander for earth's weeping eyes. and aching
| heads, and exhausted hands, and Ecourged
backs, and martyred agonies.
| Again: The thought of my texts is true
when applied to the enjoyment of the right
| eous in heaven. | think we have but little
idea of the number of the righteous in heav
en-. Infidels say: ''Your heaven will be
| very small place compared with tine world Of
the lost; for, according to your teaching, the
majority of men will be destroyed" Idenv
| the charge. / suppose that the multitude of
| the finally lost, as compared with the multi
| tude of tire finally saved, will be a handful.
| | suppose that the few sick people in the hos
pitfalls of our great cities, as compared with
the hundreds of thousands of well people.
would not be smaller than the number of
those who shalt be cast ont in suffering, COM
pared with those who shall have upon them
the health of heaven. For we are to remenl-
Der that we are living in only the beginning
of the Christian dispensation, and that this
whole world is TO be populated and redeemed,
and that ages of light and love are to flow
on If this be so, the multitudes of the saved
will be in vast majority. Take all the con-
gregations that have assembled for worship
throughout Christendom. Put them together
and they would make but a small audience
compared with the thousand and tens of
thousands, and ten thousand times ten thou
sand, and the hundred and forty and four
thousand that shall stand around the
throne. Those flashed up to heaven in
martyr fires: those tossed for many years
upon the invalid couch; those fought in the
armies of liberty, and rose as they fell:
those tumbled from high scaffolding, or
slipped from the mast, or were washed off
into the sea. They came up from Corinth.
from Laodicea, from the Red Sea bank and
Gennesaret's wave, from Egyptian brick
yards and Gideons threshing floor. Those
| thousands of years ago slept the last sleep,
and these are this moment having their eyes
closed, and their limbs stretched out for the
| sepulcher.
| A General expecting an attack from the
enemy stands on hill and looks through
field glass and sees in the great distance
multtudes approaching, but has no idea of
their numbers, He says: Il cannot tell any
thing about them | merely know that there
are great number And so John, without
attempting to count. says: "a great multi
tude that no man can number " We are
told that heaven is place Of happiness; but
what do we know about happiness Happi-
ness in this world is only half fledged thing;
a fowery path, With serpent kissing across
it; a broken pitcher, from which the water
| has dropped before we could drink it; thrill
of exhilaration followed by disastrous re
| actions To help us understand the joy of
| heaven the Bible takes us to river, We
| stand on the grassy bank. We see the waters
| flow on with ceaseless wave But the filth
of the cities is emptied into it, and the banks
are torn, and unhealthy exhalationS spring
| up from it, and we fail to get an idea of the
| river of life in heaven.
We get very unprecedented of the reunions
of heaven. We think of some festal day on
| earth, when father and mother were yet liv-
| ing, and the children came home. A good
| time that But it had this drawback-ali
were not there That brother went off to sea,
| and never was heard from. That sister-did
| we not lay her away in the freshness of her
| young life, never more in this world to look
| upon herr All there was a skeleton at the
| feast: and tears mingled with our laughter
| on that Christmas day. Not so with heavens
reunions. 1t will be an uninterrupted glad
ness. Many a Christian parent will look
| around and find all his children there. AIR
| he says, can it be possible that we are all
here--life's perils over? the Jordan passed
and not one wanting? Why, even the prod
igal is here l almost gave him up. How long
he despised my eounsels! but grace hath tri-
umphed. All here all herel Tell the mighty
| JOY through the city Let the bells ring, and
the angels mention it i'll their song. Wave it
from the top of the walls. All herem
| No more breaking of heartstrings, but face
| to face. The orphans that were left poor,
and in merciless world, kicked and cuffed
of many hardships, shall join their parents
| over whose graves they SO long wept, and
| gaze into their glorified countenances for
| ever, face to face. We may come up from
| different parts of the world, one from the
land and another from the depths of the sea;
| from lives affluent and prosperous, or from
scenes of ragged distress; but we shall all
meet in rapture and jubilee, face to face.
Many of our friends have entered upon that
| JOY. A few days agothey sat with us study
ing these Gospel themes; but they only saw
| dimlv-now revelation hath come. Your
| time will also come. God will not leave you
houndering in the darkness. You stand
wonder struck and amazed. You feel as II
| all the loveliness of life were dashed out You
stand gazing into the open chasm of the
| grave. Wait little. In the presencs of
/ +x,J INfu xxh, than,