News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-03-07
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR TALMAGES
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject; Dark Sayings on Harp"

the lmpaSSable. the uufathOmsble, the insuT-
mountab,e. We cannot so three steps
IN any direction without coming up
against hard wall of mystery, rid
dies, paradoxes. profundt;eS, labyrinths,
problems that We cannot solve,
hieroglyphics that we cannot GecIpher, ana
grams we cannot spell out, sphinxes that viii
not speak For that reason David in my
text proposed to take up some of these somber
and dark things and try to set them to sweet
muse: Il will open my dark sayings on a
harp"
80 look of upon society and find people
in unhappy con junction of circumstances and
they do not know what it means and they
have a right to ask: why is this! and why
Is that. and | think / VIII be dong a
good work by trying to explain some of
these strange things ard make you moro
content with your loS and / shall only be
an -wering questions that have often been
asked me, or that we have all asked our
selveS, whi'e | try to set these mysteries
70 music and open my dark sayings on a
harp.
Interrogation the first: Why does God
take out or this world those who are useful
and whom We cannot spare and leave alive
and IN & OF Eea' tn so many who are only a
M sanHe or a positive in ury to the world
/ thought | would begin with the very
toughest of all the seeming inscr,ro les
Many OF the most useful men and women
die at thirty or forty years of age, while Won
often fnt useless people alive at sixty and
seventy AMI eighty. John Careless wrote to
Bradford who was soon to be put to death,
saving: Way doth God suffer me and such
other caterpi,ifrS to live that can Go
nothing but consume the aims of the church.
aud take away so MANY worthy workmen
in the Lords vinevardm Similar questions
are often asked Here are two men. The
one IS a noble character and a Christian
man; he chooses for lifetime COM
panion one who has been tenderiy
reared, and She is worthy OF him and he is
worthy OF her; as merchant, or farmer, or
.prQfesSional man, or mechanic, or artist, he
tolls to educate and rear his children: he IS
succeeding. but he has not vet established for
his family full competency: he seems
absolutely Indispensable to that household
but one day before he las pad off the mort
gaze on his houe he is comb home through
strong northeast wind and a chill strikes
through him AMI four DAYS of pneumonia
end his e"rth!y career and the wife and
children go into a struggle for shelter
and fool. His next door neighbor is n man
who. though strong and well, lets his wife
support him; lie is round at the grocery
store or s1me general loafing place in
the evenings while his wife sews
his boys are i'm tating his ex-
ample and lounge ard swagger and
swear; all the use that man is in that house
Is to rave because tn coffee is cold when he
comes to la breakfast, or to say cult ng
Things about his TifeS looks " hen he furnish
es nothing for her wardrobe The best thing
that co1h happen to that family would
be thai mans funeral; but be declines to die:
he lives ON ard on nj on. So we hive all
noticed that many of the useful are early cut
on hlle the paFaS OF society have great
vita tenaci'y.
ta6e up this dark saying on my harp and
give three or four thrums on tile string in
the way OF sCrmising and hopeful guess
Perhaps the useful man was taken out of the
world, Ieca Sc he and his family were so
constructed that they coad not have endured
some great prosperity that might have
been Just ahead AMI they altogether
might have gone down in The
vortex OF worliliness which every wear swat
lows up tn thousand households And so he
went y hiie he was humble aud consecrats,i
and they were by the sever ties of 4 e kept
close to Christ and fitted for usefulness here
ami high seats ia heaven: and when they meet
at last before the Throne, they VIII acknowl-
edge that though the furnace was hot IL
purified them, and prepared them for an
eternal career OF glory ard reward for which
no other nd of life could have fitte them
On the the other hand, the useless man
ilFei on 70 fifty or sixty, or seventy
years, because all the ease he ever can
have he must have in this world, and
you ought not, therefore. begru ie him
his earthly longevity. In all the ages
there has not single lolfer ever
entered heaven. There IS no pace for
him there to hang around Not In the
temples, for they arc fun of the INST
alert and rapturous wor-
ship. Not on the river bank, for that is
the place where the conquerors reeline.
Not in the gates, because there are
Inuiutudes entering and we are told
that at each o! the twelve gates there is an
angel, and that celestial guard would not
allow tue place to be blocked up with
idlers. If the good and useful so
have 50 soon got through with
human life, which at best is a struggle. And
II the use and the tad stay re ioice that
they may be out in the worlds fresh air
good many years before their final incarcera-
ton.
Interrogation the second: Why do so many
good people have so much trouble; sickness,
bankruptcy, persecution, the three black vul-
lures som etlmes utting their fierce heaks
into one 81 CT janc ell nerves. / think
now of good friend l once had. He
was consecratefl Christian man, an elderin
the church and as polished a Christian gen
teman as ever walked Broadway. First his
eSre9aI health gave out and he koibled
around on care, an old man at forty
After q while uaralvsiS struck him Hayinp
by Ioor health been compelled sui
denly to cult business. lie lost what property
be bad. h n lis b autlful dau liter died
Then n son becase horelessly d mented.
another son. sp end d of mind and
commanding of preSen e. resolved that he
would take care OF his fathers household,
but Il der the swoOp OF yellow fever
at Fernaniin3. F o., he suddenly ex-
pred SO you know cool men and women
who Lave lad enough troubles, You think, 10
crush fftv peoo,e. No worldly philosophv
coult take such trouble and set it to Music,
or pay II on VIC in or flute or dulcimer or
sackbut hut dare to open that dark saying
on a gospel harp.
OF wonfer that very consecratel people
nave troub e. Did you evyr know amy very
cohSecfated man or woman who had not had
grest troue Never Il was through theira
troubles sanctitied that they were made
very cool If you find anywhere in this
city n,en who has now and always
has had perfect health and never lost
chill. ana has aiwavs been popular, and
never hal business ruGgle or misfortune,
who IS distin2 uiShed for 60 'dness pull your
wire for te.egraph messenger boy and send
me wori enl | will drop everything and
go right away to lock at him. Their
never las bsen man like that and
never Will te " hO are those arrogant,
seize nctittd creatures who move
about without sympathy for others and WHO
think more of q st. Bernard dog, or an AL
derney COW, CT SoUthdown sheep, or
Ser sh're tf7Fr than o. pau3 Tbav I,av~~
had any trouble, or the troube was never
sanctlIiei VITO are those men who listen
with mo st eye as you Re them of suffering
and who have pathos in their voice and
klndn $ IN their manner and an ey-
cuse or an alienation fer those gone astra 2, :
They are the men who have gra iuated at the
ROYAL Academy of Trouble an they have
the DIP ona written in WRINKLES on their own
co1nteDanceS Ny! myl What hearteches
they hal. What tears they have wept What
injustice they have suffered. The mightiast
IN uence for publication and salvation
Is trouble. No diamond fl for crown un-
II. it IS cut. No wheat fit for bread tiI! 1t is
ground. There are only three things that
can break OF cha'n-a hammer, file or
fire and trouble is al three of them The
fe4r-S
1nIlch of tteir force from trouble. Whit
rave to Washington Irving that
exquisite tenderness and pathos which will
make his books favor ties while the English
language continues to Re written and spoken
An early brenk that he never once
mentioned; and vhan, thirty years after
the death Of Matilda Hoffman, who was
to have bezn his bride. her father
picked M piece of embroidery and
said: ''That is a pece Of roor Matilda s
workmanship" Washington Irving sank
from hilaritv into silence and walked away.
Out OF that lifetime grief the great author
dipred his re1's mightiest reinforcement.
"CalvinS Institutes of Religion" than
which a more wonderful book was never
written by human hanl. was begun by the
author at twenty-five years Of age, because
IF the persecution by Francis. King of
France. Faradav toiled for all time on a
salary Of 50 pounds year AMI candles. As
every brick Of the wal of Blbvlon was
stamped With the letter u, standing for Ne
mchafne@zar so every part o. the temple
OF Christian achievement is stamped with
the letter 7. Standing for tro1hle.
W hen in olde1 time n man was to he hon
ored with Enighthcol, he was struck with
tho fat of the sword But those who have
come to the honor Of knighthnod in the
kingdom of God were first struck not with
the fat of the sword hut with TIE keen
e'ge of the crimeter. To build his magni-
ficence of character. Taul could not
have spared one lash, one prison, one stoning,
I.n..,,