Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-05-11

cause he cannot help himself. Suppose
that, because his family is sick and he
has had extra expenses, he should po-
litely ask you to raise his wages, and
YOU roughly tell him il he wants a
better place to so and getit. Suppose
by your manner you act as though he
were nothing and you were everything.
Suppose you are selfish and overbear-
| ing and arrogant. Your first name
ought to be Attila and your last name
| Attila, because you are the star Worm
wood. and you have imbittered one
third II not three-thirds OF the waters
that roll past your employees and oP-
eratives and dependents and associates.
and the long line of carriages which the
undertaken orders for your funeral. in
order to make the occasion respectable,
will be filled with twice as many dry.
fearless eyes as there are persons oc-
cupying them. You will be in this
world but a few minutes. As compared
with eternity, the stay Of the longest
life on earth is not more than a min
ute, What are we doing with that
minute? Are we imbittering the do
mestic or social or political fountains,
or are we like Moses, who, when the
Israelites in the Wilderness complained
that the waters of Lake Marah were
bitter and they could not drink them
their leader cut off the branch of a
certain tree and threw that branch
into the water, and it became sweet and
slaked the thirst OF the suffering hostY
Are we with a branch of the tree OF
life sweetening all the brakish foun-
tains that we can touchP
Dear Lord, send us all out on this
mission. All around us imbittered lives
-imbittered by persecution, imbit-
tered by hypercriticism, imbittered by
poverty. imbittered by pain, imbittered
BY injustice, imbittered by sin. Why
not 90 forth and sweeten them By
smiles, by inspiring words, by benefac-
tions. by hearty counsel, by prayer
by gospelized BEHAVIOR Let us re-
member that if we are NORWOOD TO
Others we are wormwood to ourselves,
and our life will be bitter and u eter-
nifty bitterer. The Gospel Of Jesus
Christ is the only sweetening power
that is sufficient. II sweetens the dis
position; il sweetens the manners; II
tweetens life; it sweetens mysterious
providences; it sweetens affectionsi
il sweetens death; it sweetens every
thing. | have heard people asked in
social company: "If you could have
three wishes gratifed, what would your
three wishes be?" If | could have
three wishes met, / tell you what they
would be. First, more OF the grace
of God; second, more Of the grace OF
God; third. more Of the grace Of God.
In the doorway of my brother John,
once a missionary to Annoy, China, there
was a tree called the emperor tree, the
two characteristics Of which are that IL
always grows higher than its sur
roundings, and its leaves take the form
of a crown. If this emperor tree be
planted beside a rosebush, ii grows a
little higher than the bush and spreads
out above il a rown. II IL be planted
by the side of another tree. il grows a
little higher than that tree and spreads
above ii a crown. Would God that this
religion of Christ, a more wonderful
emperor tree, might overshadcw all
your livesl Are you lowly in ambi-
ton or circumstance, putting over you
its CROWN Are you high in talent and
position. putting over you its crown?
Oh, for more of the saccharin in our
lives and less Of the wormwoodl
What is true Of individuals is true of
nations. God sets them up to revolve
as stars, but they may fall NORWOOD.
Tyre-the atmosphere of the desert,
fragrant with spices coming in cara
vans to her fairs; all seal cleft into
foam by the keels of her laden mer-
chantmen; her markets rich with
horses and camelS from Togarmah;
the bazaar filed with upholstery from
Dedan. with emerald and coral and
agate from Syria. with mines from
Helbon, with embroidered work from
Ashur and Chilmad. Where now the
CLEAN of her towers? Where the roar
Of her chariots? Where the masts OF
her ships? Let the fishermen who dry
their nets where once she stood, let the
sea that PUSHES upon the barrenness
where once she challenged the admira-
ton Of all nations, let the barbarians
who set their rude tents where once
her palaces glittered. answer the ques-
tons. She was a star, but by her own
sin turned 70 wormwood, and has
fallen.
Hundred gated Thebes. for all time
to be the study OF the antiquarian and
hieroglyphist; her stupendous ruins
spread over 81 miles; her sculptures
presenting in figures of warrior and
chariot the victories with which the
now-forgotten kings OF Egypt shook
the nations; her obelisks and columns;
Karnak and Luxor, the stupendous
temples of her pride. Who can imagine
the greatness of Thebes in those days.
when the hippodrome rang with her
sports and foreign royalty bowed at
her shrines and her y roared
with the wheels Of professions In the
wake Of returning conquerors? What
dashed down the vision Of ohariots and
temples and thrones? What hands
pulled upon the columns Of her glorxV