The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-30

its hand. And so | preached that in the
loom of time, the
TANGLED THREADS OF DESTINY
would braid the perfect pattern of a
holier life-that the roads on which
men walked bramble-torn and briar-
Scared, would lead at last to the pas
lures that are green and the waters
that are still, that war and evil, crime
and violence, the hostile forces of the
great erring world would be overruled
for good-and that the silent, resistless
drift of destiny is toward that far off
divine event toward which the whole
creation moves"
Men older in years, who had become
soured with the world, said to me, The
| increasing years will dim your dream
and change your faith to doubt but
| have come to this hour, keeping I'M
| changed the hope, the faith, the vision
of my youth, and not for one moment
along the arduous years, have | doubt
ed that God would make the crooked
straight and overrule the wrath of evil
to His praise.
have seen evil and noted the ravages
of wrong, oppression and injustice.
have paused baffled before the mys-
| Jeries Of pain and the allotments of I'M
merited calamity; 1 have seen the lust
of power crush innocence. and wicked
ness riot in the spoils of virtue-but be-
yond it all I have seen the glimmer Of
the day when righteousness should
come to its throne of power, and the
refuge of lies should be despoiled.
Beyond the omnipotence of divine
power working seemingly with va
grant and fitful will l have
seen the omnipotence of divine love,
| through seeming evil, ever educing
and I hauo learned in the drama
of destiny to wait for the finishing of
the plot and the Interpretation of the
divine purpose Nor have l lost my
faith in man. Scared and bruised
passion-stained and sin-defiled, Cod S
superscription almost lost, still have l
seen and known that Caesars image
was on the battered coin, that behind
the imbruited life there was hidden a
human soul, and in it, there was the
unsung song of deliverance, something
of God something for which Christ
| lived and died,
| SOMETHING THAT WAS MINOR
tai.
and that God and all the powers of his
omnipotence, that Christ and the holy
angels through the eternities,
would strive and toll, until that prodi-
gal should at last come unto himself
Lord.
I have tried to see the sunny side
of life and the sunny side of men; and
| life'S experience has given me the phi
losophy that the world is but a mir
ror, which gives back the image that
we throw upon it. Smile at it, it an
swers with laughter; weep at it, it
gives back tears; curse it, it will rail;
trust it, it will confde; give 1t seeds
/ will civ no har &c
of blessing.
The years that have lived have not
been long, but they have been long
enough for me to see that the earth
has swung into a larger justice. greater
| liberty, purer morality, a sweeter char
lity than there used to be- Toll
Grafton where there was bigotry
| In the church. love where once was
hate. The Christian church has come
into a new era. If it has less authority
| 1t has larger influence; if the preacher
| is less an oracle it is because he is
more man among men; and if the
pulpit in the sanctuary has lost some
thing of its authority, it is because the
| field is the world. and aoostleship
means not the clustered cell, but the
walking in the footsteps of the Mas
ter, who had no pulpit for his throne
or sanctuary for his task, but went
about the world
DOING GOOD.
1t is transition age in faith as it
is in industry: theologies and creeds
are being hung up for monuments,
men are forgetting the old shibboleths
of dividing creeds and taking down
the banners of cOntending sects but
SO long as life goes on, faith will not
die: there will be need of all the Wis
ion, the consolation, the inspiration to-
righteousness, the high ideal of Christ,
for which the church stands, and never
will the time come when men can or
will close the book Of life, or fail in
some holy fashion to keep holy day in
the house Of God.
l know not what the church of the
future shall be, but 1 feel that it will
be larger, grander, holier than the
church Of the past; that it's message
shall be the message of hope; that it
shall run out in a thousand channels
of beneficence; that it shall be a shell
ter for the weary-hearted, and shall
hearten men to do nobly, love mercy
and live humbly with God and man
I know not what may be the measure
of authority that the Christian
preacher of the future may exercise,
but l know that whoever shall have a
living message of love and good will
SHdll lII1u the waiting ear ana the le-
sponsive heart, and whoever shall have
the leadership of service, shall have the
following of discipleship. I can add no
word OF emphasis to the many words
which l have uttered from this place.
You are the stewards of a great trust;
your faith stands or falls as you give
to 1t the
HIGH LOYALTY OF YOUR DEvo~
TON.
You will call to this pulpit, 1 trust,
no Weakling, but a man mature in
thought, established in character, hav-
ing high endowment of ability and the
graces of large attainments, that this
pulpit may be a power in this COM
munity, and it's utterances may COM
mand the attention and serve the in
terests of our beloved city. But rea
member that if this church has at
tanned any influence it has not been by
any grace of utterance that has come
from this pulpit, but from the Chris
tian living of those who have waited
upon its ministrations, the men and
women who have borne its burdens and
incarnated the spoken word in acted
lives.
Be liberal in your gifts; you are too
poor to be ungenerous. You are too
weak to do small things, and there is
no waste so great as that which misses
the harvest by keeping the seed in the
bin which ought to be in the furrow.
Be i0 your places at Sabbath wor-
shin.
KEEP VITAL THE SPIRIT OF DE-
VOTION
by keeping alive the weekly meeting
for prayer and praise. Sustain the
Sabbath school which is the helper of
your homes and the guarantor of your
future. Keep unbroken the unity
which has always bound you together;
have open doors of hospitality for the