The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-08-12

: DRnC unrOuTn Un6 broken WINDOW pan
of his cabin, and to the sick it seem
like light from the other shore tina
bounds this great deep of human pail
, and woe. Ii the sun be like song, full
and loud and poured forth from brazel
: instruments that fill heaven and eartl
with harmony, the moon is plaintive anC
sad, standing beneath the throne of God
sending up her soft, sweet voice o.
praise, while the stars listen and thu
seal No mother ever more lovingly
watched sick cradle than this pale
watcher Of the sky bends over the weary
heartsick, slumbering earth, singing tc
it a silvery music, while it is rocked il
the cradle of the spheres.
'FAIR AS THE MOON"
Now, says my text, "Who is she, fai1
as the moon" Our answer is the church
Like the moon, she is a borrowed light.
She gathers up the glcry of Saviour's
sufferings, a Saviour's III Saviour's
resurrection, a Saviour's &sct lsion, and
pours that light on palace and dungeon,
on squalid heathenism and elaborate
skepticism, on widows tears and mar
tyr's robe of flame, on weeping peni-
tence and loud mouthed scorn.
She is the only institution today that
gives any light to our world. Into her
portals the poor come and get the sym
pathy of a once pillowless Christ, the
bereaved come and see the bottle in
which God saves all our tears, and the
captives come, and on the sharp corners
of her affairs dash off their chains, and
the thirsty come and put their cup under
the "Rock of Ages" which pours forth
from its smitten side living water, spark
| ling water, crystalline water from under
! the throne of God and the Lamb.
Blessed the bell that calls her worship
ers to prayer. Blessed the water in
which her members are baptized Bless
ed the wine that glows in her sacra-
mental cups. Blessed the songs on which
her devotions travel up and the angels
of God travel down.
AS the moon goes through the midst
of the roaring storm clouds unfinished
and unframed, and comes out calm and
beautiful on the other side, so the
church of God has gone through all
the storms of this worlds persecution
and come out uninjured, no worse for
the fact that Robespierre cursed it.
and Voltaire caricatured it, and Tom
Paine sneered at it, and all the forces
of darkness have bombarded it. Not
like some baleful comet shooting across
the sky, scattering terror and dismay
among the nations, but above the long
bowling night of the worlds wretched-
ness the Christian church has made her
mild way, Fair as the moon"
take step further in my subject
"Clear as the sum-" After a season of
storm or fog, how you are thrilled when
the sun comes out at monday! The |
mists travel up hill above hill, mountain |
above mountain, until they are sky lost. |
The forests are full of chirp and buzz
and song; honey makers on the log,
birds beak pounding the bark, the chat
ter of the squirrel on the rail, the call of
hawk out of clear sky makes you
thankful for the sunshine which makes
all the world so busy and so glad. The
same sun which in the morning kindled
conhagrations among the castles of /
cloud scoops down to paint the lily
white and the buttercup yellow and the
forgetmenot blue.
WHAT CAN RESIST THE SUN?
What can resist the sun? Light for
voyager on the deep, light for shepherds
guarding the focks atield, light for the
poor who have no lamps to burn, light
for the downcast and the weary, light
for aching eyes and burning brain and
captive, light for the smooth
brow of childhood and the dim vision of
the octogenarian, light for queens
coronet and sewing girls needle. "Let
there be light"
Now, says my text, "Who is she that
looketh forth clear as the sun?' Our an
swer is, the church. You have been GO
ing along a road before day break, and
on one side you thought you saw lion,
and on the other side you thought you
saw goblin of the darkness, but when
5he sun came out you found these were
apparitions. And it is the
Christ to come forth ''clear as the sur
% illumine all early darkness, to ex-
plain, as far as possible, all mystery, and
20 make the world radiant in its bright
less; and that which you thought was
IN aroused lion is found out to be a
numbering lamb; and the sepulchral
rates of your dead turn out to be the
opening gates of heaven; and that which '
'ou supposed was a flaming sword to
,eep you out of paradise is an angel of
light to beckon you in.
The lamps on her affairs will cast their 3
,low on your darkest pathway and cheer
-ou until, far beyond the need of Ian I
ern or lighthouse, you are safely an
hored within the veil. Oh, sun of the
hurch, shine ON until there is no sor-
ow to soothe, no tears to wipe away,
10 shackles to break, no more souls to {
Ne redeemed! Ten thousand hands of
in have attempted to extinguish the !
amps ON her affairs, but they are quench-
ess, and to silence her pulpits, but the s
hunder would leap and the lightning :
would flame.
The church of God will yet come to
ull meridian, and in that day all the