The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1894-08-10

Only in the sacredness of inward silenc
! does the soul truly meet the secret-hidin
God. The strength of resolve, which after
wards shapes life and mixes itself with action
, is the fruit of those sacred; solitary moments
I when we meet God alone.
Every individual will be the happier tn,
more clearly he understands that his vocation
consists, not in eXacting service from others
but in minstering to others, in giving his life
the ransom of many. A man who does this
will be worthy of his food, and will not fail tc
have it.
We speak of the ministry of sin, of suffer
ing, of disappointment, of sorrow, and speak
truly; but none of these ''mnistcr' not one,
until they have been mastered. First our
mastery, We say, ''The Lord hath chastened
u.s. Yes, but by summoning us to a wreste
IN winch 1t Is our part never to let go.
If we want place in this world, we must
earn it. The partridge makes its own nest
before it occupies it, The lark by its morn
ing song earns its breakfast before it eats it.
The Bible gives an intimatiOn that the first
duty of an idler is to starve when it says if
he "will not work neither shall he eat" Idle
ness ruins the health, and very soon says:
This man has refused to pay his rent. ''Out
with him!'
Blessed is that country whose tOmbs treas
ure to the mighty ashes of heroes. There is
gospel springing from the graves of our sol
dier dead; They tell of the saving power of
self sacrifice, the uplifting energy of a noble
f1uence of heroic death. From the
graves of our great dead has come a nations
Immortality; from their sacred dust has
sprung wiser, larger liberty. All the world
is better, greater, as the result of what those
dead heroes had the grace to be and to do
''Cast thy burden upon the Lord" Does
your head ache? His wore the thorn. Do
your feet hurt? His were crushed of the
spikes. Is your side painful? His was struck
by the spear. Do you feel like giving way
under the burden? His weakness gave way
under the cross. While you are in every pos
sible way to try to restore your physical vigor
you are to remember that more soothing than
any anodyne, more vitaizing than any stimu
liant and more strengthening than any tonic is
the prescription of the text. ''Cast thy bur-
den upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee
We judge of days as being ''short' and
''long" by pretty nearly the same rule as God
uses. For believe me; thought is the only
true measure of time; work is the true stand
ard of life. The heart that has thought much
about God, the hands and the lips that have
worked much for God, are old already, how
ever few be the years, as men count years,
hat they have loved and labored. The heart
hat hes loved little, the brain that has thought
title, the tongue that has spoken little, the
lands that have wrougIk little. about God,
md for &otks sake, thesl are still young. still
n their infancy, although the hoary hear OF
heir owner may show the approach OF the
,hreescore years and ten. For, in word;
Life is not days and years. Life is love and
labor.
In sorrow He lost His Father. Regularly
in His prayers Christ's address is to His
Father. His whole microscopy prayers,
like a rose out of fertile ground. springs from
his filial sense: and in the light and warmth
Of that relation His life is uniformly lived.
But now He has lost His Father 1t is not
now, "My Father!' but "My Godw The
like of it in small ways down here is constant
ly happening. Loving hearts that are grief
stricken are continually re-enacting some of
this Calvary experience. The widowed and
the orphaned here are saying, "My God! my
Godw When they can not say my Father"
The word Father will not come. Not an
cry with Him, but with a benumbed sense
chat leaves no means of finding and feeling
Him in His fatherlness. The mountains of
their own love-sorrOw rises between and
leaves them walking in the twilight. My dear
friend, our Lord has been there.
No depth of agony which He has not touched;
no experience of orphanage under which He
has not waited; no hour of great darkness
through which He has not walked. And He
is our advocate with the Father. Seeing,
then, we have a great High Priest, that is
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son OF
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we
have not an high priest who cannot be touch
ed with the feeling of our infirmities; but was
IN all points tempted like as we are, yet with
)ut sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto
the throne of grace. that we may obtain mer-
~ and find grace to help in time of need.
[C. II. Parkhurst, ID. ID. New York;