News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-09-03


ent distress. Lost children, have you?
I come to tell you that in ten years per-
haps you will meet these loved ones be-
fore the throne of God. But there is
but little coincidence in that One day
is year without them, and ten years
is small eternity. What you want is
a sympathy now-present help. /
come to those of you who have lost
dear friends, and say: TRY to forget
them. Do not keep the departed al
ways in your mind" How can you
forget them when every figure in the
carpet, and every book, and every pic
ture and every room calls out their
name.
Suppose come to you and say by
way of coincidence, God is wise. :"
"Oh," you say, that gives me no
help" Suppose 1 come to you and say,
''God, from all eternity, has arranged
this trouble" tAhl"y you say, that does
me no good" Then 1 say, "With the
swift feet of prayer go direct to the corn
crib for heavenly supply" You go.
You say, Lord, helpme; Lord, comfort
me-" But no help yet. No comfort
yet. 1t is all dark What is the mat
ter2 have found. You ought to go
to God and say: Here, o Lord, are
the wounds of my soul, and | bring
with me the wounded Jesus. Let his
wounds pay for my wounds, his be-
reavements for my bereavements, his
loneliness for my loneliness, his heart
break for my heart break. 0 God for
the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ-the
God, the man, the Benjamin. the broth
er-deliver my agonized soul. 0 Jesus
of the weary foot, ease my fatigue. o
Jesus of the aching head, heal my ach
ing head o Jesus of the Bethany sis
tiers, roll away the stone from the door
of our grave"
THE FERvENT, EFFECTUAL PRAYER.
That is the kind of prayer that brings
help; and yet how many of you are
getting no help at all, for the reason
that there is in your soul, perhaps,
secret trouble You may never have
mentioned it to a single human ear, or
you may have mentioned it to some
one who is now gone away, and that
great sorrow is still in your soul. After
Washington Irving was dead, they
found a little box that contained a
braid of hair and a miniature, and the
name of Matilda Hoffman, and a
memorandum of her death, and re-
mark something like this: 1.-THE world
after that was blank to me- / went
into the country, but found no
peace in solitude. tried to go into
society, but found no peace in socie-
ty. There has been a horror hanging
over me by night and by day, and
am afraid to be alone"
How many unuttered troublesl No
human ear has ever heard the sorrow.
o troubled soul, l want to tell you that
there is one salve that can cure the
wounds of the heart, and that is the
salve made out of the tears of a SYM
pathetic Jesus. And yet some of you
will not take this solace; and you try
chloral and you try morphine and you
try strong drink and you try change of
scene and you try new business associa-
tons and everything and anything ra-
ther than take the divine companion
ship and sympathy suggested by the
words of my text when it says, You
shall not see my face again unless your
brother be with you" Oh, that you
might understand something of the
height and depth and length and
breadth and immensely and infinity of
Gods eternal consultations.
go further and find in my subject
hint as to the way heaven opens to
the departing spirit. We are told that
heaven has twelve gates, and some
people infer from that fact that all the
people will go in without reference to
their past life. But what is the use of
having a gate that is not sometimes to
be shut2 The swinging of gate i'm
plies that our entrance into heaven is
conditional 1t is not a monetary con
dition. If we come to the door of an
exquisite concert we are not surprised
that we must pay fee, for we know
that fine earthly music is expensive;
but all the oratorios of heaven cost
nothing.
Heaven pays nothing for its music
1t is all free. There is nothing to be
paid at that door for entrance, but the
condition of getting into heaven is our
bringing our divine Benjamin along
with us. Do you notice how often
dying people call upon Jesus2 1t is the
usual prayer offered-the prayer offered
more than all the other prayers put to-
gether-"LordJ Jesus receive my spirit
One of our congregation, when asked
in the closing moments of his life, do
you know us2' said: "Oh, yes, l know
you. God bless you. Goodby. Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit" and he was
gone. Oh, yes, in the closing moments
of our life we must have Christ to
call upon
NO SALVATION OUT OF CHRIST.
If Jacobs sons had gone toward
Egypt, all had gone with the very
finest equipage, and had not taken Ben
jamin along with them, and to the
question they should have been obliged
to answer, ''Sir, we didn't bring him,
as father could not let him go; we
didn't want to be bothered with him."
a voice from within would have said
go away from us. You shall not have
any of this supply. You shall not see
my face because your brother is not
with you" And if we come up toward
the door of heaven at last, though we
come from all luxuriance and bril-
liancy of surroundings, and knock for
admittance, and it is found that Christ
is not with us, the police of heaven will
beat us back from the breadhouse,
saying, depart, never knew you"
IfJacob's sons, coming toward Egypt,
had lost everything on the way; if they
had expended their last shekel; if they
had come up utterly exhausted to the
corncribs of Egypt, and it had been
found that Benjamin was with them,
all the storehouses would have swung
open before them. And so, though by
fatal casualty we may be ushered into
the eternal world; though we may be
weak and exhausted by protracted
sickness-if, in that last moment, we
can only just stagger and faint and fall
into the gate of heaven = it seems
that all the corncribs of heaven
will open for our need and all the
palaces will open for our reception;
and the Lord of that place, seated
at his table, and all the angels of
God seated at their table, and the
martyrs seated at their table, and
all our gloSified kindred seated at our
table the king shall rnass n r,nrtinn from