The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-12-16

thousands as more than conQueror.
Oh, my friends. God, our Mother, Is Just
MS kind IN our Affections as in our pros,
perities. God never touches us but fm
our good. II field clean and cultured
Is better OFF than barren field, and If a
stone that has become a statue Is better
of than the marble in the quarry, then
that soul that God chastens may be his
favorite.
Oh, the rocking of the soul is not the
rocking of an earthquake, but the rock,
ing of Gods cradle. "As one whom his
mother comforteth, SO will l comfort
you" have been told that the pearl in
an oyster is merely the result of wound
or sickness inflicted upon it, and do
not know hut that the brightest gems OF
heaven will be found to have been the
wounds Of earth kindled into the jewclcl
brightness of eternal glory.
remark that God has mothers ca.
pacity for attending to little hurts. The
father is shocked at the broken bone II
the child OF ut the sickness that sets the
cradle on fire with fever, but 1t takes
tho mother to sylnpathize with all lie
little ailments and little bruises of lac
child. If the child have a splinter in lis
hand it wants the mother to take it oat
and not the father. The father says.
"Oh, that is nothing" but the mother
knows it is something, and that u little
hurt sometimes is very great. SO with
God, our Mother; all our annoyances are
important enough to look at and sympa.
thize 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 micyo,
scope as through telescope. Those
things that may be palpable and infni.
tesimal to US may be pronounced and in.
finite to God. A mathematical point is
defined US having no parts, no mayni.
tude. 1t is SO smallyou cannot imagine
it and yet a mathematical point may be
a starting point for great eternity.
Gods surveyors carry very long chain.
A scale must be very delicate tb>t can
weigh grain, but Gods scale is so deli.
cate that he can weigh with ii that which
is so small that grain is million times
heavier.
When John Kitto, poor boy on "a
back street of Plymouth, cut his foot
with piece of glass, God bound it up su
successfully that he became the grea;
Christian geographer and commeii:;a
tor known among all nations. So every
wound of the soul, however insignificant,
God is willing to bind up. AS at the
first cry of the child the mother rushe,.
to kiss the wound, SO God, our Mother.
takes the smallest wound of the heart
and presses it to the lips of divine sym
pathy. "As one whom his mother com.
forteth, 80 will comfort YOU"
DIVINE AND MoTHERLY PATIENCE.
Iremark further that God has moth
er'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 Off
his father casts him off. But after all
others have cast him off, where does he
go? Who holds no grudge and forgives
the last time as well as the first? Who
sits by the murderer's counsel all
through the long trial? Who tarries
the longest at the windows of a culprit's
cell? Who, when all others think i'll Of
a man, keeps on thinking well of him!
It is his mother. God blesk her gray
hairs if she be still alive, and bless her
grave if she be gonei And bless the
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 man off God, our Mother, comes
10 the rescue. God leaps to take charge
of bad case. After all the other doc
tors have got through the heavenly
Physician comes in. Human sympathy
at such time does not amount to much.
Even the sympathy of the church, am
sorry to say, often does not amount to
much. l have seen the most harsh and
bitter treatment on the part Of those who
professed faith in Christ toward those
who were wavering and .erring. They
tried on the wanderer saAcasm and bill.
lingsgate and caricature, and they tried
title tattle. There was one thing they
did not try, and that was forgiveness.
A soldier in England was brought by
sergeant to the colonel. What" says
the colonel, bringing the man here
again! We have tried everything with
him." "Oh, no." says the sergeant;
"there is one thing you have not tried.
/ would like you to try that" "What is
thatr' said the colonel. Said the man.
forgiveness" The case had not gone
80 far but that 1t might take that turn,
and so the colonel said: "Well, young
man, you have done SO and SO. WHAT'S
your excuse?" II have no excuse, but
am very sorry" said the man.
eve have made up our minds to for
give 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 a
positively Christian life. o church of
God, quit your sarcasm when man
falls! Quit your irony, quit your little
tattle, and try forgiveness. God, your
Mother, tries it all the time. A mans
sin may be like q continent, but Gods
forgiveness is like the Atlantic and Pa
cific oceans, bounding it on both sides.
THE DIVINE HAND.
The Bible often talks about Gods
hand. l wonder how it looks. You re-
member distinctly how your mothers
hand looked, though thirty years ago it
.withered away. It was different from
your fathers hand. When you were to
be chastised you had rather have mother
punish you than father. 1t did not hurt
90 much. And fathers hand was diff
ferent from mothers, partly because it
had outdoor toll, and partly because
God intended it to be different. The
knuckles were more firmly set, and the
palm was calloused.
But mothers hand was more delicate.
There were blue veins running through
the back of it. Though the fingers, some
of them, were picked with needle, the
palm of it was soft. Oh. it was very
softl Was there ever any poultice like
that to take pain out of wound? Sc
Gods hand is mothers hand. What il