Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1892-12-15

darkness
But after awhile the mantle Of affection
will fall Off, and his soul will be greeted by
the one hundred and forty-four thousand
and the thousands OF thousands as more
than conqueror. Oh, my friends, God, our
Mother, is just as kind in our Affections as
in our properties. God never touches us
but for our good. If q field clean and cul-
tured is better off than a barren field, and
if stone that has become a statue is bet
ter off than the marble in the quarry, then
that soul that God chastens may he his
favorite.
Oh, tbs rocking of the soul is not the
rocking of an earthquake, but the rocking
of Gods cradle. "As one whom his mother
comfortetb, so will comfort you" have
been told that the pearl in an oyster is
merely the result of a wound or sickness
inflicted upon it. and | do not know but
that the brightest gems of heaven will be
found to have been the wounds of earth
kinded into the jeweled brightness of eter-
nal glory.
THE INFANTS NEEDS.
remark that God has mothers capac-
ity for attending to little hurts. The father
is shocked at the broken bone of the child,
or ut the sickness that sets the cradle on
fire with fever, but it takes the mother to
sympathiae with all the little ailments and
little bruises of the child If the child
have a splinter in its hand it wants the
mother TO take it out, and not the father.
The father says, ooh, that is nothing"
but the mother knows it is something, and
that II little hurt sometimes is very great.
SO with God, our Mother; all our annoy
ances are import ant enough to look at and
sympathize with.
Nothing with God is something. There
are no ciphers in Gods arithmetic. And if
we were only good enough of sight We
could see as much through n microscope
rs through a telescope. Those things that
may he impalpable and infnitesimal to us
may be pronounced and infinite to God. A
mathematical point is defined as having no
parts. no magnitude 1t is so small you
cannot imagine it, and yet mathematical
point may be starting point for a great
eternity Gods surveyors carry a very
long chain. a scale must be very delicate
that can weigh grain, but Gods scale IS
SO delicate that he can weigh with it that
which Is so small tint grain is ambition
times heavier
When John Kitto, poor boy on back
street OF Plymouth, cut his foot with
piece of glass, God bound it up so success
fully that he became the great Christian
II
among all nations. So every wound of the
soul, however insignificant, God is willing
10 bind mp. AS Mt t he first cry of the child
the mother rushes TO kiss the wound, so
God our Mother. takes the smallest wound
Of the heprt and presses it to the lips of
divine sympathy. "As one whom his moth
or romforteth. so will comfort YOU"
! remark further that God has moth
cr's patience for the erring. If one does
wrong, first his associates in life cast him
off; if he goes on in the wrong way, his
business partner casts him off; if he goes
On, his best friends cast him ofI-his father
casts him of. But after all others have
cast him of, where does he go' Who holds
no grudgc and forgives the last time as
we'll as the first? Who sits by the muir
derer's counsel all through the long trial'
Who tarries the longest at the windows of
Il culprits cell? Who, when all others
think i'll Of IA man, keeps on thinking we'll
of him? 1t is his mother. God bless her
gray hairs if she be still alive, and bless
her grave if she be gone! And bless tie
rocking chair in which she used to sit, and
bless the cradle that she used to rock, and
bless the Bible she used to read
So God, our Mother, has patience for all
the erring. After everybody else has cast
a man off God, our Mother, comes to the
rescue. God leaps to take charge of bad
case. After all the other doctors have got
through the heavenly Physician comes in.
Human sympathy at such a time does not
amount to much. Even the sympathy of
the church. am sorry to say, often does
not amount to much.
THE CHURCH LACKS SYMPATHY.
| have seen the most harsh and bitter
treatment ON the part of those who pro
frSsed faith in Christ toward those vino
were wavering and errng. They tried on
the wanderer sarcasm and bllingsgate
and caricature. and they tried little tattle.
There was one thing they did not try. and
that was forgiveness. A soldier in Eng
land was brought by sergeant to tie
colonel. What" says the colonel, bring
ing the man here again! We have tried
everytnin. with him. "Oh, no." says the
sergeant; there is one thing you have not
tried. | would like you to try that. -
What is thaty" said the colonel. Said
the man, forgiveness"
The case had not gone so far but that it
might take that turH- and so the colonel
said: well, young man, you have done SO
and So. What is your excuse" Il have
no excuse, but am very sorry" said the
man. We have made up our minds to
forgive you, said the colonel. The tears
started, He had never been accosted in
that way before. His life was reformed,
and that was the starting point for posi-
lively Christian life. O church of God,
quit your sarcasm when man fallsl Quit
your irony quit your tittle tattle and try
forgiveness. God, your Mother, tries it all
the time, a mans sin may be like a con
tnent, but Gods forgiveness is like the
Atlantic ana Pacific oceans, bounding it
ON both sides.
The Bible often talks about Gods hand
wonder how it looks. You remem Der
distinctly how your mothers hand looked,
though thirty years ago 1t withered away.
1t was different from your fathers hand,
When you vera to be chastised you had
rather have mother punish you than IA
ther. IL did not hurt SO much. And ia
theirs hand was different from mothers,
partly because it had outdoor toll, and part
| ly because God intended it to be different.
| The knuckles We're more firmly set, and
! the palm was cailOused.
But mo:ners hand was more delicate