Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-04-23

are asked for assistance by word or deed
|. instead Of mol Nor
Most OF the mysteries that bother other
do not bother me, because adjourn them
but the mystery that really bothers me i
why God made SO many people wh'
amount to nothing so far as the world
betterment is concerned. They stand il
the way They object They discuss
hindrances. They suggest possibilities Of
failure. Over the road Of life, instead Of
pulling In the traces, they are lying bach
in the Ibreeehings They are the everlast
ing No. They are bramble trees, they ART
willows. always mourning; or wild cherry
trees, yielding only the bitter. OF crab ap
pie trees, producing only the sour, while
God would have us all flourish like the
palm tree. Planted in the Bible that tree
always means usefulness.
But how little any of us or all of us ac-
complish in that direction. We take TWEEN
4 ty or thirty years to get fully ready for
| Christian work, and in the afterpart of
life we take ten or twenty years for the
gradual closing of active work, and that
leaves only SO little time between opening
| and stopping work that all we accomplish
is so little an angel of God needs to exert
himself TO see it all.
THE GOSPEL OF USEFULNESS.
Nearly everything see around, beneath
and above in the natural world suggests
useful service II there is nothing in the
| Bible that inspires you to usefulness, go
out and study the world around you this
| springtime. and learn the great lesson of
usefulness. "What art thou doing up
| there, little starr Why not shut thine
eyes and sleep. for who cares for thy shin
ings" mo" saith the star, IL will not
sleep. | guide the sailor on the sea.
cheer the traveller among the mountains.
| help tip the dew with light Through
the window Of the poor mans cabin cast
beam of hope, and the child on her moth
er's lap asks in glee whittier come and
what do and whence 90. To CLEAN and
glitter, God set me here Away have no
time 70 sleep"
The snowflake comes struggling down
'Frail, tickle wanderer, why contest thou
1ereY II am no idle wanderer," responds
;he snowflake. High up in the air was
corn, the child of the rain and the cold,
md at the divine behest | come, and am
10 straggier, for God tells me where to put
my crystal heel To help cover the roots
the grain and grass, TO cleanse the air, to
make sportsmen more happy and the ingle
fire more bright come. Though so light
am that you toss me from your muller
and crush me under your foot, am doing
my best to fulfil what | was made for.
Clothed in white | come on a heavenly
mission, and, when my work is done and
God shall cali, in morning vapor | shall 20
back drawn by the fiery courses Of the
sun"
''What doest thou, Insignificant grass
blade under my feetsn II am doing
work, /" says the grass blade. las best can.
help to make upthe soft beauty Of field
and lawn. | am satisfied, il, with millions
of others no bigger than |, we can give
pasture to flocks aud herds. lam wonder
fully made. He who feeds the ravens gives
me substance from the soil and breath
from the air, and he who clothes the lilies
of the field rewards me with this coat of
green"
LESSONS OF THE CLOUDS.
"For what, lonely cloud, goest thou
across the heayenss" Through the bright
air voice drops from afar, saying: up
aud down this sapphire floor | pace to |
teach men that like me they are passing |
away. ! gather up the waters from lake |
iibu Sttis anu AutHf Nutn luc llulluCTS lOiit
refresh the earth, making the dry ground |
to laugh with hargests Of wheat and fields |
Of corn. | catch the frown of the storm
and the hues OF the rainbow. At evening
tide on the western slopes will pitch my |
tent, and over me shall dash the saffron,
and the purple, and the fire Of the sunset.
A pillar OF cloud like me led the chosen
across the desert, and surrounded by such
rs the Judge Of Heaven and Earth win
At last descend. for Behold he cometh
with cloudsl
oh, my friends, If everything in the imam.
innate world be useful, let US immortal men
and women be useful, and in that respect
be like the palm tree. But must not be
tempted by what David says of that green
shaft Of Palestine tliat living and glorious
pillar in the eastern gardens, as seen in
llden times-ths palm tree; must not be
.cmpted by what the Old Testament says
# it, TO lessen my emphasis of what John,
he evangelist, says OF il ia my text
Notice thar it was beautiful and lawful
'obbery Of the palm tree that helped make
Up Christ's triumph ON the road to Jern.
allen that Palm Sunday. The long, broad,
sreen leaves that were strewn under the
eet.of the colt and in the way of Christ
we're torn off from the trees. What pity,
ONE one might say, that those stately and
graceful trees should be despoiled. The
ap, oozed out at the places where the
ranches broke, The glory Of the palm
RE was appropriately sacrificed for the
'aviour's triumphal procession. So it al
Ways was, SO it always will be in this
worthy triumph of any sort
Without the tearing down of something
lse 81 n,
Brooklyn bridge, the glory of our CONT
ent, must have two architects Frustrated,
he one slain by his tolls and the other for
lifetime invalided. The greatest pictures
+ the world had, in their richest coloring,
he blood Of the artists who made them. I
he niightiest oratorios that ever rolled
Trough the churches had, ia their pathos,
lie signs and groans of the composers,
tho wore their lives out in writing the !
armony. American independence was |
but it moved ON over the life
sss forms Of tens of thousands of men who
I'll at Bunker Hill and Yorktown and the '
attles between which were the hemor
hages Of the nation.