Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-12-04

with the expectation or hearing some
thing more with regard to the all-absorb-
ing subject. But they were disappointed.
Mr.. Granville came behind the tall.
Puritan pulpit, and, after the hymn and
the prayer and the reading of chapter
of the Scriptures. announced his text:
Il am He that blotteth out thy trans
gressions as a cloud; and as dark
cloud thy sins
The plain board meeting house stood
at the end of the one long village street,
and was surrounded by forest trees. The
oak and the maple, the birch and the
hickory beat their branches on its roof
In front grew the wild hawberry, which,
in its season, was loaded down with
bright, red berries, and in the rear were
the graves which marked the saints who
had gone to heaven.
1t was q strange sermon, and so i'm
pressed the listeners. The subject SEEM
ed to have nothing to do with the great
fact which was filing the minds of the
congregation. Mr.. Granville preached
as he had never preached before, and the
people listened with wondering awe. Was
this the decrepit man who had Wearied
them with his platitudes about Gods
judgment and foreordin alton? Was this
the man whom they had grown to look
upon as stern and unforbidding-Who
preached rather an unforgiving God than
a God of sinners?
ne SAID. beloved, the
clouds are an emblem of sin. They float
above Us in Gods air and are so dark
that they hide the sun from US. They
come from earth, they rise from the
brook, the river, the ocean, and no man
sees them rise. And yet, when they leave
US and rise to that clear space which be-
longs to God, they stand ont in clear re-
lief and are beyond our reach. They
float In Gods air and hide from US the
sun.
So with our sins. They come from
Us and ofttimes we know not of them even
as they are rising. But when once they
have gone upward, they gather and We
see the black cloud between us and God.
They form on earth, in our hearts, but
when they have risen, no mans hand can
reach them. They then belong to God,
and He alone can drive them away.
There is then left to as nothing. But
God has said that even as He scattereth
the clouds SO Will He drive away our sins.
They may be dark and threatening, and
away. But He has promised that His
hand shall stretch out and take them
away"
The sermon closed with these words:
God is love and He is merciful, and He
will stretch out His strong hand and
take away the dark cloud which hangs
between Him and us; and all that We
beat upon our breasts and cry, God, be
merciful to me a sinner"
The minister ended and gave out
hymn, which was sung by the choir In the
gallery. Then the choir received the
benediction and departed.
The sermon was the cause of much dis
cussion in the village, particularly in the
doctors household, where Egbert and
Dorothea stopped that night. Egbert
said:
Il never have understood Mr.. Granville
before. Take courage, Dorothea. He
prove to him that his distorted magma
ton is wrong, from being your enemy he
will turn to be your friend"
The next morning the whole village
gathered in the meeting house. II
was a solemn occasion. Prayer was
offered by the minister, and a Puri-
tan hymn was sung, after which Dorothea
was brought before the pulpit to answer
the charge which her lifelong enemy
had been preparing.
The first accusation was with regard to
her evil influence over the ministers
daughter. This Dorothea denied, and in
rebuttal Doctor Lennox told of the incl
dent in his Office, giving as his opinion
that Achsah's trouble was mere nervous.
ness, and that the herbs of the forest, if
rightly applied, would prove a restorative.
This statement of his created favorable
impression. Then the minister arose and
said:
Mistress Dorothea ingram, who have
you met in the forest during the last five
years?"
The congregation waited, breath1ess,
for the answer.
Reverend sir. I might answer YOU
question were it not for q promise to one
to whom am bound by the most sacred
ties"
IN o-;o5 ~, =. ,,o;,,;.tor ac,aa1- -, -
in this place of sacred ties which bind
you to the evil one"
The congreg alton experienced shock
and believed that the minister was right.
Before Dorothea conld reply the minister
asked again:
viii you tell me now who visited you
on the night of your marriage and gave
you such presents as no other maiden il
the village could hope to receiver"
To this Dorothea answered:
Who IL was that visited me my hus-
band knows, and if he is satisfied, ii
does not concern YOU"
This also, as the minister saw, created
a favorable impression in Dorothea's be-
half. But his work was not yet done.
Drawing folded slip Of paper from his
pocket he said:
my brethren, We have heard the man
ner in which this woman hath eluded the
guardians which would condemn her.
Here is written proof against her.
found it in her cabin two years ago. II
was left there by man who entered the
place after night-falL I found q note
written on birch bark. ] took it home
and kept it for two years, and Deacon
Bethnal saw it, and was witness when
that same note was taken away by the one
who wrote it. The Prince of the Power
of the Air But, so deeply had the
words burned into my mind, that the next
day rewrote them, and here they are:
G'Dorothea! Obey the one who keeps
you, and the one who looks after you, but
whom you cannot see, will provide fol
you.
Brethren, continued the minister,
what more proof is needed? Mistress
Dorothea has refused to tell who it is
hath met her in the woods, and who it is
that provided for her on the eve of hel
marriara Baholdl b are is his own com