The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1899-01-07

most respectable attire and seated on
soft cushions. the preacher standing in
neatly upholstered pulpit surrounded
by personal friends, and after an in
spring hymn has been sung, and that
sermon, if preached in faith. will do
good; but the most effective sermon is
preached by one seated in dressing
gown in an armchair into which the
invalid has with much care been lifted,
the surrounding shelves filled with
medicine bottles, some TO produce
sleep some for the relief of sudden
paroNysm. some for stimulant, some
for tonic, some for anodyne and some
for febrifuge. the pale preacher quot
ing promises of the Gospel, telling of
the glories of sympathetic Christ, as
suring the one or two or three persons
who hear it Of the mighty reinforce
ments of religion, You say that to
such a sermon there are only one or
two or three hearers. Aye, but the
visitor calling at that room, then clos
ing the door softly and going away,
tells the story, and the whole neighbor-
hood hears it, and it will take all eterni-
ty TO realize the grand and uplifting
influence Of that sermon about God and
the soul, though preached to an audi
cnce of only one man or one woman
The Lord has ordained all such in
valids for style of usefulness which
athletics and men of 200 healthy av-
oirdupos cannot affect. 1t was not an
enemy that fastened you in that one
room or sent you on crutches, the long
est journey you have made for many
weeks being from bed to sofa and from
sofa to looking glass, where you are
shocked at the pallor of your own
cheek and the pinchedness of your fea-
lures; then back again from mirror to
sofa and sofa to bed, with q long sigh
saying: How good it feelsto get back
again to my old place on the pilow!"
Remember who it is that appointed the
day when for the first time in many
years you could not go to business and
who has kept record of all the weary
days and all the sleepless nights of
your exile from the world. o weary
mani O feeble woman. it was the Lord
who shut you in! Do you remember
that some of the noblest and best of
men have been prisoners? Ezekiel a
prisoner, jeremiah a prisoner. Paul a
prisoner. ST. John a prisoner, John
Bunyan prisoner. Though human
hate seemed to have all to do with them,
really the Lord shut them in.
No doubt, while on that voyage, Noah
aud his three sons and all the four la
dies Of the antediuvian world often
thought of the bright hillsides and the
green fields where they had walked
and of the homes where they had lived.
They had had many years of expert
cnces. Noah was GOO years old at the
time of this CONFUSION of nature. He
had seen COO springtimes, 600 sum-
mcrs, Geo autumns, 600 winters. We
are not told how old his wife was at
this wreck of earth and sky. The Bible
tells the age of a great many men, but
only once gives a woman's age. AT
one time it gives Adams age as 100
years. and Jared's age at 1872 years, and
Enoch's age as 365 years, and all up
and down the Bible it gives the age of
men, but does not give the age of wom-
en-. Why? Because, | suppose, wom-
ans age is none of our business. But
all the men and women that tossed in
that oriental craft had lived long
enough to remember great many of
the mercies and kindnesses of God, and
they could not blot out, and think
they had no disposition to blot out the
memory of those brightnessses, though
now they were shut in. Neither should
the shut in of our time forget the bless
ings of the past Have you been blind
for ten years? Thank God for the time
when you saw as clearly as any of us
can see, and let the pageant of all the
radiant landscapes and illumined skies
which you ever looked upon kindle
| your rapturous gratitude. do not see
Raphael's Madonna di San Sisto" in
the picture gallery of Dresden. nor
Rubens' Descent from the Cross" at
Antwerp, nor Michael Angeles Last
Judgment" on the ceiling of the vati-
can, nor Saint Sophia at Constantine
pie, nor the Parthenon on the Acrop-
oils, nor the Tai Mahal of India. But
shall l not thank God that have seen
them? Is it possible that such mid
night darkness shall ever blast my vi
sion that / cannot call them up again
Perhaps you are so deaf that you can
not hear the chirp of bird or solo OF
cantatrice. or even organ in full diapa-
son. though you feel the foundations
tremble under its majestic roll or even
the thunderstorm that makes Mount
Washington echo. But are you not
grateful that once you could hear trill
andi chant and carol doXology?
Do you forget when in childhood you
danced and skipped because you were
SO full of life you had not patience to
walk. and in after years you climbed
| the mountains of Switzerland. putting
your alpenstock high up on glaciers
which few others ever dared and
jumped long reaches in competition.
! and after a walk of ten miles you came
in i0cand as the morning? Oh, you
siut-ins! ThDek God for vivid mem
DRY of the times when you were free
as the channels on the rocks, as the
eagle going straight for the sun. When