Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-08-07

"God, save my child! God, save my
childi'' The world seemed going out III
darkness. Voc said, 81 cannot bear 1t,
I cannot bear it!'' You felt as If you
could not put the lashes over the bright
ewes never to see them again sparkle.
Oh. if you could have taken that little
one in your arms and with it leaped into
the grave, how s,ladly you would have
zone it! Oh, if you could let your prop
srtv 90. your houses, your land and your
ttorehouse go, how gladly you would
have allowed them to depart if you
,ould only have kept that one treasure!
But one day there arose from the
heavens chill blast that swept over the
bedroom, and instantly all the light
went out, and there was darkness
thick, murky, impenetrable, shudderlng
darkness. But God did not leave you
there. Mercy spoke. AS you were about
to put that cup to your lips God said,
Let it pass" and forthwith, as by the
hand Of angels, another cup was putinto
your hands. It was the cup of Gods
consolation And as you have some
times lifted the head of a wounded sol
der and poured wine into his lips, SO
God puts his left arm under your head,
and with his right hand he pours into
YOUR lips the wine of his comfort and
his consolation, and you looked at the
empty cradle and looked at your broken
heart. and you looked at the Lords chas-
tisement, and you said, Given so, Fa-
Their, for so it seemeth good in thy
sight
All, it is your first trouble. How did
YOU get over it? God comforted you.
You have been better man ever since.
You have been a better woman ever
since. In the jar of the closing gate Of
the sepulcher you heard the changing OF
the opening gate Of heaven, and you felt
an irresistible drawing heavenward.
You have been purer and holier of heart
ever since that night when the little one
for the last time put its arms around
YOUR neck and said: .Good night, papa.
Good night. mamma. Meet me in heav-
en-"
But | must come on down to your later
sorrow. What was it? Perhaps it was
sickness. The child's tread on the stair
or the tick of the watch on the stand dis
turbs you. Through the long, weary days
you counted the figures on the carpet or
the flowers in the wall paper. Oh, the
WEAKNESS and exhaustion! Oh, the burn
ing pangs Would God it were morn
ing. would God it were night, were your
frequent cry But you are better-per-
haps even we'll. Have you thanked God
that today you can come out IN the fresh
air: that you are in this place to hear
Gods name, and to sing Gods praise,
and to inplore Gods help, and to ask
Gods forgiveness? Bless the Lord who
healeth all our diseases and redeemeth
our lives from destruction.
Perhaps YOUR last sorrow was fnan
cial embarrassment / congratulate
some of you on your lucrative profession
or occupation, on ornate apparel, ON
commodious residence-everythln you
put your hand to seems to turn to gold
But there are others of you who are like
the ship on which Paul sailed where two
seas met, and you are broken by the vlo-
lence of the waves. By an unadvised
Endorsement, or by conjunction of I'M
foreseen events, or by fire or storm, or a
senseless panic, you have been flung
headlong, and where you once dispensed
great charities now you have hard work
to make the two ends meet.
THANK GOD FOR PROSPERITY.
Have YOU forgotten to thank God for
your days Of prosperity, and that through
your trials some of you have made in
yestments which will continue after the
last bank CT this world has exploded and
the silver and gold are molten in fires of
a burning world? Have you, amid all
vo1r losses and discouragements, forgot
! III hi
morning and that there shall be shell
ter for your head from the Storm and
there is air for your lungs and blood for
your heart and light for your eye and a
! glad and glorious and triumphant reli-
gion for your soul?
| Perhaps your last trouble was a be-
reayement. That heart which in child
hood was your refuge, the parental
heart. and which has been source of
the quickest sympathy ever since has
suddenly become silent forever And
now sometimes whenever in sudden an
novance and without deliberation you
say. Il will go and tell MOTHER" the
thought flashes on you, II have no moth
er." Or the father, with voice less ten
der, but at heart as earnest and loving
watchful Of all your ways, exultant over
your success without saying much, al
though the old people do talk it over by
themselves-is taken away forever.
Or there was your companion in life
sharer of your joys and sorrows, taken
leaving the heart an old ruin, where the
i'll winds blow over wide wilderness OF
desolation, the sands of the desert driving
across the place which once bloomed
like the garden of God. And Abraham
nourns for Sarah at the cave of Mach
pelah. Going along your path in life
suddenly, right before you was an oper
grave. :,