The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-04-29

III JnB SulGlu6 ) grave l1uu low Va "
men reached 35 years of age Ihey
drank, they smoked, tbey gambled' IN
them the beast destroyed the man
Some of them lived long enough to get
their fortunes and went through them
The vast majority OF them did not i've
to get their inheritance. From L % in
shop or house of infamy they were
brought home to their fathers house
and in delirium began to pick OH lodln
some reptiles from the embroidered pr
low and to fight back imaginary devils
And then they were laid out i'll highly
upholstered parlor, the casket covered
with flowers by indulgent parents
flowers suggestive of a resurrection with
no hope.
AS you sat this morning at your
breakfast table and looked into the faces
of your children, perhaps you salq
within yourself. "Poor things! How
wish / could start them i'll life with d
competence! How | have been dlsap-
pointed in all my expectations OF what
| would do for them!" Upon that scene
OF path0s | break with p3an OF con
graduation, that by your financial losses
your own prospects for heaven and the
prospect for the heaven Of your children
are nightly improved. You may have
lost a toy, but you have won palace.
''How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom OF God ~
cit is easier for a camel to go through
a needles eye than for rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven. What
does that mean? 1t means that the
grandest blessing God ever bestowed
upon you was to take your money away
from you. Let me here say, III passing,
do not put much stress on the treasures
of this world You cannot take them
along with you. At any rate, you can
not take them more than two or three
miles; you will have to leave them at the
cemetery. AttiIa had three collins. so
fond was he of this life that he decreed
that first he should be buried III a coffin
of gold and that then that should be IN
closed in a coffin Of silver and that
should be inGlosed in coffin of iron,
and then a large amount OF treasure
should be thrown in over his body.
And SO be was buried, and the men who
buried him were slain, SO that no one
might know where he was buried and
no one might there interfere with his
| treasures. Oh, men Of the world, who
want to take your money with you, bet
ter have three collins!
Helpful Thoughts.
Again, remark, you ought to make
the very best of your bereavements.
| The whole tendency is to brood over
these separations, and to give much
| time to the handling of mementos of
| the departed, and to make long vista
tions to the cemetery, and to say ION,
| can never look up again. My hope IS
gone; my courage is gone; my religion
is gone; my faith in God is gone, Oh,
the wear and tear and exhaustion OF
this loneliness. p" The most frequent be-
reavement is the loss of children. II
YOUR departed child had lived as long as
you have lived do you not suppose that
he would have had about the same
amount of trouble and trial that you
have bad? If you could make a choice
for your child between 40,years OF an
and bereavements and 40 years in %eav-
Ell, would you take the responsibility
of choosing the former? Would you
snatch away the cup Of eternal bliss
and put into that chiId's hands the cup
of many bereavements? Instead OF the
complete safety into which that child
has been lifted would you like to hold
it down to the risks of this mortal state!
Would you like to keep it out on sea
in which there have been more ship
wrecks than safe voyages? Is it not a
comfort to you to know that that child,
instead of being besoiled and flung into
the mire of sin, is swung clear into the
skies? Are not those children to be con
graduated that the point OF celestial
bliss which you expect to reach by d
pilgrimage of 80 or 60 or 70 years they
reached at a flash? If the last 10, OOC
children who had entered heaven hao
gone through the average Of human life
on earth, are you sure all those 10, OOl
children would have finally reached the
blissfuI terminus? Besides that, my
friends, you are to look at this matter
as a self denial on your part for then
benefit. If your children want to 60 OF
in a May day party, if your children
want to COON fowery and musical eH
cursion, you consent. You might prefer
to have them with you, but their jubi
liant absence satisfies you. Well, your
departed children have only gone out IL
a May day party, amid fiowery and mu
steal entertainments, amid joys and hi
larities forever. That ought to queI
some Of your grief, the thought of theil
glee,
So it ought to be that you could make
the best OF all bereavements. The fac
that you have so many friends in HEAVIER
will make your own departure very
cheerful. When you are going on voy
age, everything depends upon where
, your friends are-if they are on the
wharf that you leave Or on the whar
toward which you are going to sail. IL
{ other words, the more friends you have
, in heaven the easier it will be to &c
, away from this world. The more friends
, here the more bitter goodbys; the more
5 friends there the more glorious wei
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