Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-12-06

Inc lutd VI lily NtANn - lhob a. u w "ASL
applied to Gods providence. Who has not
come to some pass in life thoroughly mex
plicab]e? You say: "What does this meanS
What is God going to do with me now? He
tells me that all things work together for
good. This does not look like it." You COM
tinue to study the dispensation, and after a
while guess about what God means. HE
means to teach me this. think he means to
teach me that. Perhaps it is to humble my
pride. Perhaps it is to make me feel more
dependent Perhaps to teach me the uncer-
tainty of life" But after all, it is only
guess-a looking through the glass, darkly.
The Bible assures US there shall be satisfac-
tory unfolding. "What do thou knowest
not now: but thou shalt know hereafter"
You will know why God took to Himself that
only child. Next door there was household
of seven children Why not take one from
that group, instead of your only one Why
single out the dwelling in which there was
only one heart beating responsive to yoursS
Why did God give you a child at all, If He
meant to take it away? Why fill the cup of
your gladness trimming, if He meant to dash
It down? Why allow all the tendrils of your
heart to wind around that object and then,
when every fibre of your own life seemed to
he 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 brokenP Do
YOU suppose unaJ Hod VIII explain mat? Yea
He will make it palmer than any mathemat
ical problem-as plain as that two and two
make four. In the light of the throne you
will see that it was right-all right. Just
and true are all Thy ways, Thou King OF
Saints"
Here is q man who cannot GET on in the
world He always seems to buy at the
wrong time and to sell at the worst disad-
vantage He tries this enterprise, and fails;
that business. and is disappointed. The man
next door to him has q 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 irving to cure the ailments. He gets a
discouraged lock- rBffGGT 6isasttPFsse.s others
wait for something to turn up; he waits for
it to turn down. Others, with only half as
much education and character, get OIL twice
as well. He sometimes guesses as to what it
ali means. lie says: perhaps riches would
spoil me. Perhaps poverty is necessary TO
keep me humble. Perhaps / might, if things
were otherwise, be tempted into diSsipa-
tions." But there is no complete solution of
the mystery. He sees through glass, dark
ly, and must wait for a higher unfolding.
VIII there be an explanation? Yes; God
will take that man in the lightof the throne,
and say: "Child immortal, hear the explana-
ton! You remember the failing of that
great enterprise. This is the explanation"
And you will answer: sit is all Iight~
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, almshousss 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 ponrs
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
| humpbacked; and David that he was driven
from Jerusalem, and the sewing woman that
she could get only few pence for making a
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 hard
work to earn bread for her children. You
know that in song different voices carry
different parts. The sweet and overwhelm.
ng part of the hallelujah of heaven will not
be carried by those who rode III high places,
and gave sumptuouS entertainments; but
pauper children will sing it, beggars will
sing it, redeemed hod-carriers will sing it.
those who were once the offscouring of earth
will sing it. The hallelujah will be ell the
grander for earths weeping eyes, and aching
| heads, and exhausted hands, and scourged
backs, and martyred agonies.
Again: The thought of my texts is true
when applied 70 the enjoyment of the right
eous in heaven. think we have but little
| idea of the number of the righteous in heav
en- Infdels say "Your heaven will be 6
very small place compared with the world Of
the lost for, according to your teaching, the
majority of men will be destroyed" Ideny
the charge. | suppose that the multitude Of
| the finally lost, as compared with the multi.
tude of the 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 shall be cast out in suffering com.
pared with those who shall have upon them
the health of heaven. For we are to remem,
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
ggegations that have assembled for worship
throughout ChTistendom. Put them together
and they would make but small audience
compared with the thousand and tens Of
thousands, and ten thousand times ten thou
sand. and the hundred and forty and foul
thousand that shall stand around the
throne. Those flashed up to heaven il
martyr fires; those tossed for many years
upon the invalid couch; those fought in thu
armies of liberty, and rose as they fell
those tumbled from high scaffolding, O.
slipped from the mast or were washed of
into the sea. They came up from Corinth
from Laodicea, from the Red Sea bank anC
Gennesaret's wave, from Egyptian brick
yards, and Gideon's threshing floor. Thos
thousands of years ago slept the last sleep
and these are this moment having their eye
closed and their limbs stretched out for thu
| sepulcher.
a General expecting an attack from The
enemy stands ON hill and looks through {
field glass, and sees, in the great distance
muitlUudes approaching, but has no idea o.
tnelr numbers. He saws: II cannot tell any
M uu,ns apouu them. merely know that there
| atte,nIriyanr NUMBER" And SO John, withou
tude that no ma mann, says "A great multi
tod that heaven is place Of bo,,,; Q arr
what do we know about hep ,st.s nl. Dll
ness in this world is only half fedged thing
a fiowery path, with a serpent Kissing acroS
it; broken pitcher, from which the waite
has dropped before we could drink it; thrill
Of exhilaraton, followed by disastrous re
actions. To help us understand the ioy O
heaven, the Bible takes US to river, w
stand on the grassy bank. We see the water
flow on with ceaseless wave. But the filtl
Of the cities is emptied into it, and the bank
are torn and unhealthy exhalations sprins
up from it, and we fail to get an idea OF tn,
river of life in heaven
We getvery imperfect ideas of the reunions
OF heaven. We think of some festal day OF
EARTH when father and mother were vet liv.
ing, and the children came home. 4 good
Tune that! But it had this drawback all
were not there That brother went off to sea
and never was heard from. That sister-did
| we not lev her aMaN in the f..nshnnc- Of Ln,