The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-01-05
up from the Caribbean, and he put the
delicate craft into the first harbor.
"Taken away from the evil to Gomez

Ill an dDOfeVldUed earUnly existence IN Tn
fact that it puts one sooner in the cente
of things. All astronomers, infidel a.
well as Christian, agree in believing tina
the universe swings around some grea
center Any one who has studied tn,
earth and studied the heavens knows tina
Gods favorite figure in geometry is :
circle. When God put forth his hant
to create the universe, he did not strike
that hand at right angles, but he waved
it in a circle and kept on waving it in 6
circle until systems and consultations
and galaxies and all worlds took that
motion. Our planet swinging around
the sun, other planets swinging around
other suns, but somewhere a great huh
around which the great wheel of the uni
verse turns. Now, that center is heaven.
That is the capital of the universe. That
is the great metropolis Of immensely.
KNOWLEDGE AT FIRST HANDS.
Now, does not our common sense teach
us that in matters of study it is better
for us to move out from the center to-
ward the circumference rather than to
be on the circumference, where our world
now is? We are like those who study
the American continent while standing
on the Atlantic beach. The way to study
the continent is to cross it or go to the
heart of it. Our standpoint in this world
is defective. We are at the wrong end
of the telescope. The best way to study
a piece of machinery is not to stand on
the doorstep and try to look in, but to
go in with the engineer and take our
place right amid the saws and the cyl
inders We wear our eyes out and our
brain out from the fact that we are
studying under such great disadvantage.
Millions of dollars for observatories to
study things about the moon, about the
sun, about the rings of Saturn, about
transits and occultations and eclipses,
simply because our studio, our observa-
tory, is poorly situated. We are down
in the cellar trying to study the palace
of the universe, while our departed
Christian friends have gone up stairs
amid the sl1ylights to study.
Now, when one can sooner get to the
center of things, is he not to be congrat-
ulated? Who wants to be always in the
freshman class? We study God in this
world by the Biblical photograph Of him,
but we all know we can in five minutes
curate idea of him than we can by study
ing him so years through pictures of
words. The little child that died last
night today knows more of God than all
Andover, and all Princeton, and all New
Brunswick, and all Edinburgh, and all
the theological institutions in Christen.
dom. Is it not better to go up to the
very headquarters of knowledge?
Does not our common sense teach us
that it is better to be at the center than
to be clear out on the rim of the wheel,
holding nervously fast to the tire lest we
be suddenly hurled into light and eter-
nal felicity? Through all kinds Of optic
al instruments trying to peer in through
the cracks and the keyholes of heaven
afraid that both doors of the celestial
will be swung wide open before
our entranced vision-rushing about
among the apothecary shops of this
world, wondering if this is good for rheu-
matism, and that is good for neuralgia |
and something else is good for a bad |
cough, lest we be suddenly ushered into
a land of everlasting health, where the
inhabitant never says, 81 am sick"
What fools we all are to prefer the cir
conference to the center! What dread |
full thing it would be if we should be |
suddenly ushered from this wintry world |
INTO the Maytime orchards of heaven,
and if our pauperism of sin and sorrow
should be suddenly broken up by pres
of an emperor's castle, sur
'ounded by parks with springing foun-
aims and paths up and down which an
gels of God walk two and two!
We stick to the world as though we
preferred cold drizzle to warm habita-
ion, discord to cantata, sackcloth to
'oyal purple-as though we preferred
piano with four or five keys out of tune
% an instrument fully attuned - as
hough earth and heaven had exchanged
apparel and earth had taken on bridal
fray and heaven had gone into deep
all its waters stagnant, all its
larps broken, all chalices cracked at the
Try wells, all the lawns sloping to the
liver plowed with graves, with dead
ngels under the furrow. Oh, want to
freak up my own infatuation, and |
want ~ break up your infatuation for
his world. | tell you if we are ready,
nd if our work is done, the sooner we
o the Letter, and if there are blessings
n long lily, want you to know right
veil there are also blessings in an abbre-
iatCu earthly existence.
A FORTUNATE ESCAPE.
If the spirit of this sermon is true, how
ousoled you ought to feel about men,
ers of your families that went early.
Taken from the evil to come" this book
avs. What fortunate escape they had!
low glad we ought to feel that they will
ever have to go through the struggles
-hich we have had to go through. They
ad just time enough to get out of the
radle and run up the springtime hills of
lis world and see how it looked, and
len they started for better stopping {
lace. They were like ships that put in
st. Helena, staying there long enough
, let passengers go up and see the bar {
Icks of Napoleon's captivity and then {
DIST sail for the port of their own native l
! I