News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-03-10

| YOU would touch would De the cross.
1t is hard for an aged man or woman
to have grown old without religion.
Their taste is gone. The peach and
the grape have lost their flavor.
They say that somehow fruit does
not taste as it used to. Their hearing
gets defective, and they miss great
deal that is said in their presence.
Their friends have all gone and ev-
| erybody seems so strange. The world
seems to go away from them and
they are left all alone. They begin
to feel in the way when you come
into the room where they are, and
they move their chair nervously and
say, II hope | am not in the way"
Al&al that father and mother should
ever be in the way. When you were
sick, and they sat up all night rock
ing you, singing to you, administer
ing to you, did they think that you
were in the way2 Are you tired of
the old people? Do you snap them
up quick and sharp? You will be
cursed to the bone for your ingratl-
tude and unkindnessl
Oh, it is hard to be old without re-
igion-to feel this world going away
and nothing better coming. Ii there
be any here who have gone far on
without Christ, | address you def
erentially. You have found this
tough world for old people. Alas!
to have aches and pains, and no
Christ to soothe them. | want to
give you a cane better than that you
lean on. 1t is the cane that the Bible
speaks of when it says, Thy rod and
thy staff they comfort me. | want
to give you better spectacles than
those you now look through. 1t is
the spiritual eyesight Of divine grace.
Christ will not think that you are in
the way
Does your head tremble with the
palsy of old age? Lay it on Christ's
bosom. Do you feel lonely now that
your companions and children are
gomez I think Christ has them
They are safe in his keeping. Very
soon he will take you where they
are. | take hold of your arm and try
to lead you to a place where you can
put down all your burden. Go with
me. Only little while Longer, and
your sight will come again, and your
hearing will come again, and with
the strength of an immortal athlete
YOU will step on the pavement of
! heaven. No crutcheS III heaven; no
sleepless nights in heaven; no cross
| 011
there for ages, no one will say:
"Father, you know nothing about
this. Step back You are III the
wayr' Oh, how many dear old
folks Jesus has put to Sleep How
| sweetly he has closed their eyes!
How gently folded their armsl How
he has put his hand on their silent
hearts and said: Rest now, tired
pilgrim. 1t is all over. The tears,
will never start again. Hush hush!'
So he gives his beloved sleep. think
the most beautiful object on earth is
an old Christian-the hair white, not
with the frosts of winter, but the
blossoms of the tree of life. l never
feel sorry for a Christian old man.
Why feel sorry for those upon whom
the glories of the eternal world are
about to burst? They are going to
the goodly cedar Though their
wings are heavy with age, God shall |
renew their strength like the eagle,
and they shall make their nest in the
cedar. ''All fowl of every wing"
THE VERY BAD MAY COME.
Again, the very bad, the outra-
geously sinful, may come. Men talk
of the grace of God as though it
were so many yards long and so many
yards deep. People point to the
dying thief as an encouragement to
the sinner How much better it
would be to point to our own case
J and say, ''Jf God saved us he can
| save anybody" There may be those
here who never had one earnest word
said to them about their souls. Con
slider me as putting my hand on
your shoulder and looking in your
eye. God has been good to you.
You ask: How do you know
that2 He has been very hard on
me- Where did you come fromY"
Home" "Then you have home
Have you ever thanked God for your
home? Have you children2" YES"
Have you ever thanked God for
your children2 Who keeps them
safe? Were you ever sick?" Yes"
''Who made you well? Have you been
fed every day2 Who feeds you? Put
your hand on your pulse. Who
makes it throb2 Listen to the res
piration of your lungs. Who helps
you to breathe2 Have you a Bible in
the house, spreading before you the
future life? Who gave you that
Bible2"
Oh, it has been a story of goodness
and mercy all the way through You
have been one of Gods pet children
Who fondled you and caressed you
and loved you? And when you went
astray and wanted to come back did
he ever refused l know of a father
who, after his son came back the
fourth time, said, mo; / forgave
you three times, but will never for
give you again" And the son went
off and died. But God takes back
his children the thousandth time as
cheerfully as the first. AS easily as
with my handkerchief l strike the
| dust off book God will wipe out all
your sins.
There are hospitals for ''incura-
bles. When men are hopelessly
sick they are sent there Thank
God, there is no hospital for spiritual
incurablesl Though you had the
worst leprosy that ever struck a soul,
your flesh shall come again like the
flesh of a little child. Oh, this mercy
of God l am told it is an ocean.
Then place on it four swift sailing
craft, with compass and charts, and
| choice rigging and skillful navigators,
and tell them to launch away and
discover for me the extent of this
ocean.
That craft puts out in one direc-
ton and sails to the north this craft
to the south; this to the east; this to
the west. They crowd on all their
canvas and sail ten thousand years,
and one day come up the harbor of
heaven, and / shout to them from
the beach, "Have you found the
shore?" and they answer, mo shore
to Gods mercyp Swift angels, dis
patched from the throne, attempt to
go across it. For a million years
they fly and fly, but then come back
II q