Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1898-06-03

AW-N.N FAAAAN III " NlN va I FAAFANA maven
had gone through tn average Of human
life on earth. are YOU sure all those 10000
children would have finally reached the
hlis-tul terminus Besides that, my friends
YOU are TO look at this matter a. selt-de-
NAL On YOUR part for their bcuelt. ltyOur
children Want TO go OF In a May-day party;
n your children want to 20 ON a fowery
and musical excursion, YOU consent. You
might prefer TO have them with YOU, but
their iubilant absence satisfies you. Wen.
your departed children have only gone out
In Il May-day party, amid fOwery and
musical entertainment, amid JOYS and
hilarities forever. That ought to ouell
some OF your grief. the thought OF their glee.
So ii ought to be that you could make
the best OF all bereavements. The fact that
YOU have SO many friends in heaven will
make your own departure very cheerful
When YOU are going ON n voyage. every
thing depends upon where your friends are
If they are on the wharf that you leave,
or on the wharf toward which You are GO
Ing to sail. In other words, the more
friends you have ia heaven the easier it
will be to get away from this world. The
more friends here, the more bitter good
byes: the more friends there the more
glorious welcomes. Some OF you have so
many brothers, sisters children, friends in
heaven, that | do not know hardly how
YOU are going to crowd through When
the vessel came from foreign lands, and
brought Prince to New York harbor, the
ships were covered with bunting, and you
remember how the men-Of-war Numbered
broadslles: but there was no Joy there
compared with ting Joy which shall be
demonstrated when you sail up the broad
bay of heavenly salutation. The more
friends you have there, the easier your own
transit. What is death to a mother whose
children are in heaven? Why, there Is no
more grief In 1t than there is In her going
into nursery amid the romp and laughter
OF her household. Though all around may
be dark, see you not the bright light in the
clouds that light the irritated faces Of
your Sloriaed kindred?.
So also, my friends, | would have you
make the best OF your sicknesses. When
you see one move off with elastic step and
in full physical vigOr. sometimes YOU be-
come impatient with your lame foot. When
man describes an object mile'off, aud
you cannot see it at all, you become i'm
patient OF your dim eye. When you hear
OF well man making great achievement
you become impatient with your depressed
nervous system or your dilapidated health.
| will tell you how you can make the worst
of it. Brood over it; brood over all these
Illnesses, and your nerves will become more
twtchy and your dyspepsia more aggra-
waited and your weakness more appalling
But that is the devils work,to tell you how
to make the worst OF it; it is my work to
show YOU bright light in the clouds.
Which of the Bible men most attract your
attention? You say, Moses, Job, David
Jeremiah, Paul. Why, what strange thing
it Is that you have chosen those who were
physically disorderei Moses-T know he
was nervous from the blow he gave the
Egyptian. Job---his blood was yitiated and
diseased, and his skin distresstully erup-
tive. David---he had a running sore, which
he speaks Of when he says. My sore ran
in the night and ceased not jeremiah
had enlargement of the spleen. Who can
doubt it who read Lamentations? Paul.
he had lifetime sickness whicE the com
meutatOrS have been guessing about fov
years, not knowing exactly what the
apostle meant by "a thorn in the flesh" |
do not know either: but it was something
sharp. something that stuck him. | gather
from all this that physical disorder may be
the means OF grace to the soul. You say
you have SO many temptations from bodily
ailments and If YOU were only well YOU
think You could be- n good Christian.
While your temptations may be different.
they are no more those Of the man who
has an appetite three times "a dav, Snd
sleeps eight hours every night.
From what | have heard | Judge that
| inYaiids have more rapturOus view OF the
next world than well people, and will have
a higher renOwn in heaven. The best view
of the deleetable mountains is through the
lattice OF the sick room There are trains
running every hour between pillow and
throne, between hospital and mansion,
between Dandages aud robes between
crutch and palm branch. Oh, | wish some
of you people who are compelled to cry,
My head, my head, Ny foot, my foot
NV back my back" would try soma Of
I I It. 4 ..f
well anyhow before long. Heaven is an
| Old city, but has never yet reported one
cas-" of sickness or one bill Of mortality
| No ophthalmia for the eye. No pneumonia
| for the lungs. No peurisy for the side.
| No neuralgia for the nerves. No rheuma.
| tism for the muscles. The inhabitants
shall never say, Il am sick" There shall
| be no more pain
| Again, YOU ought to make the hes. of
life's fnaity,. Now, you think l haze a
yery tough subject. You do not see how
an to strike 4 spark Of light out Of the
| Aint of the tombstone. There are many
| people who have an idea that death is the
submercencr Of everything pleasant by
everything ioletul. II my subject could
close in the apsetting OF all such precon-
ceived notions, it would close we'll. Who
can judge best Of the features OF man
those who are close by him, or those who
are afar of? oh" you say, chose can
Judge best OF the features Of man who
are close by him"
Now, my friends, who shall Judge of the
| FEATURES OF DEATH whether they are 10 vely
OF whether they are repu.sive? You? \ gu
are to- far oil. II | want to get judS-
ment as to what really the features Of
| death are, | will not ask you; | will ask
| those who have been within a month OF
death, or n week Of death, or an hour Of
death, or minute Of death. They stand
so near the features, they can tell.
| They give unanimous testimony, If they
are Christian people. that death, instead
OF being demoniac. is cherubic. or all the
thousands Of Christians who have been
carried through the gates Of the cemetery,
gather up their dying experiences, and you
will find they nearly all bordered on q
jubilnte How often you have seen dy-
ing man join in the psalm being sung
around his bedside, the middle of the verso
0penin. to let his runSomed spirit free,-
long after the lips could not speak, he
looking and pointing upward
Some of you talk as though God had es
hausted Himself in building this world
and that all the rich curtains He ever made
He hung around this planet and all tn,
flowers He ever grew He has woven into
the carpet of our daisied meadows. No
This world is not the best thing God cal
do; this world is not the best thing tina
God has done.
One week OF our year is called blossom
week called so all through the land be
cause there are more blossoms in tina
week than in any other week Of the year
Blossom week! And that is what the futur
world is to which the Christian is invited
blossom week forever. 1t is rs far ah3a
of this world rs Paradise is ahead of DR.,
Tortusas, and yet here we stand trembling
and fearing to go out, and we want to sta.
on the dry sand, and amid the storm,
petrels, when we are invited to arbors o
iessamine, and birds Of paradise.
One season l had two springtimes.
went to New Orleans in April and marked
the differences between going toward New
Orleans and then coming back. As | wen
on down toward New Orleans, the verdure
the foliage, became thicker and NOR