Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-07-13
Would God all chill

IL the father have large property,
and he be wise enough TO keep it in
his own name, he will be respected by
the heirs; but how often it is when the
son finds his father in famine, as
Joseph found Jacob in famine, the
young people make il very hard for
the old man. They are so surprised
he eats with a knife instead of fork.
They are chagrined at his antedelu-
Wan habits. They are provoked be-
cause he can not hear as well as he
nsed tc, and when he asks it over
again, fnd the son has to repeat it,
he bawis in the old mans ear: al
hope you hear that How long he
must wear the old coat or the old hat
before they get him n new one! How
chagrined they are at his independ.
ence of the English grammar! How
long he hangs on! Seventy years and
not gone yet! Seventy-fve years and
not gone yet! Eighty years and not
gone yet! VIII he ever go? They
think it of no use TO have
doctor in his last sickness, and
60 up to the drug store and get a
dose of something that makes him
worse, and economic on a coffin, and
beat the undertaken down to the last
point, giving a note for the reduced
amount which they never paw. have
ofiiciated at obsequies of aged people
where the family have been so inor-
dinately resigned TO Providence that
felt like taking my text from Pro-
verbs: THE eye that mocketh at its
father, and refuseth TO obey its
mother, the ravens of the valley shall
pick it out, and the young eagles
shall eat it." In other words, such an
migrate ought to have n flock of crows
for pall-bearers! congratulate you
if you have the honor of providing for
aged parents. The blessing of the
Lord God of Joseph and Jacob will be
on you.
| may say in regard to the most OF
you that your parents have probably
visited you for the last time, or will
soon pay you such visit and l have
wondered if they will ever visit you in
the kings palace. "oh, you say, II
am in the pit of sin!' Joseph was in
the pit. "Oh," you say, IL am in the
prison of mine iniquity!' Joseph was
once IN prison. oh" you say, Il
didn't have fair chance; l was de-
MED maternal kindness! Joseph was
denied maternal attendance" "Oh,"
you say, Il am far away from the
land of my nativity Joseph was far
from home. "Oh, you say, 81 have
been betrayed and exasperated" Did
not Joseph's brethren sell him to
passing Ishmaelitish caravan?
Yet God brought him to that en-
blazoned residence; and if you will
trust his grace i'm Jesus Christ, you,
too, will be empalaced. Oh, what a
day that will be when the old folks
come from an adjoining mansion in
heaven, and find you amid the alabas-
ter pillars of the throne-room and
living with the King! They are COM
ing up the steps now, and the epau-
letted guard of the palace rushes in
and says: Your fathers coming your
mothers coming And when under
the arches of precious stones and on
the pavement of porphyry you greet
each other, the scene will eclipse the
meeting on the Goshen highway,
when Joseph and Jacob fell on each
others neck and wept good While.
But oh, how changed the old folks
will be! Their cheek smoothed into
the flesh Of a little child. Their
stopped posture lifted into immortal
symmetry. Their foot now so feeble,
then with the sprightness of bound
ing roe, as they shall say to you: "A
spirit passed this way from earth and
told US that you were hayward and
dissipated after we left the world; but
you have repented, our prayer has
been answered, and you are here: and
as we used to visit you on earth before
we died, now we visit you in your
new home after our ascension" And
father will say, Mother, don't you
STE Joseph is still alive?" and mother
will say, Yes, father, Joseph is yet
alive. And then they will talk over
their earthly anxieties in regard to
you, and the midnight suppli-
cations in your behalf, and they
w i'll reCite TO each other the scrip
ture passage with which they used to
cheer their staggering faith: II will
be God to thee and thy seed after
thee" Oh, the palace, the palace,
the palace! That is what Richard
Baxter called The Saints Everlasting
Rest" That is what John Bunyan
called the Celestial City," That is
Young's Night Thoughts" turned
into morning civilizations. That is
Gray's 'Elegy in Churchyard"
turned 10 resurrection spectacle That
is the "Cotter's Saturday Night" ex-
changed for the "Cotter's Sabbath
morning. That is the shepherd of
Salisbury Plains amid the flocks
on tho hills of heaven. That is
the famine-struck Padanaram turned
into the rich pasture fields of Goshen.
That is Jacob visiting Joseph at the
| III