Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-09-12

health from Him, your companion from
Him, your children from Him, your home
from Him, all the bright surroundings OF
your life from Him.
Oh, man, what dost thou with that hard
heart? Canst thou not feel one throb OF
gratitude toward the God that made you
and the Christ who came to redeem You
and the Holy Ghost who has all these
years been importuning you?
If / could gather all the griefs of all
sorts from these crowded streets and could
put them in one scroll, neither man nor
angel could endure the recitation. Well,
what do You want! Would you like to
have your property back again? "No,"
you say as a Christian man, 81 was be-
coming arrogant, and | think that is why
the Lord took it away, don't want to
have my property back Well, would
have departea feS fespds 9sse tse
the responsibility of bringing them from
fearless realm to a realm of tears. l
couldn't do it." Well, then what do you
want? A thousand voices in the audience
cry out Comfort! Give us comforts"
For that reason | have rolled away the
stone from the wells mouth. Come, all
ye wounded of the flock, pursued of the
wolves, e)me to the fountain where the
Lords sick and bereft ones have come.
All, says some one, you are not old
have not been in the world as long as
have, and you can't talk to me about my
| misfortunes in the time of old age" Well,
| may not have lived as long as you, but
| have been great deal among old people,
and know how they feel about their fail
| ing health and about their departed
| friends and about the loneliness that some
| times strikes through their souls. After
| two persons have lived together for forty
| or fifty years, and one of them is taken
| away, what desolation.
| shall not forget the cry of DR.. De
| Witt, of New York, when he stood by the
open grave of his beloved wife, and after
| the obsequies had ended he looked down
into the open place and said: Farewell,
my honored, faithful and beloved wife.
art in glory, and l am here on earth. We
shall meet again. FAREWELL Farewell"
To lean on prop for fifty years and
then have it break under you! There We're
| only two years difference between the
death of my father and mother. After my
mothers decease my father used to go
around as though looking for something.
He would often get up from one room
without any seeming reason and go to an
other room, and then he would take his
cane and start out, and some one would
say, Father, where are you going" And
where | am going" Always looking for
something. Though he was tender
hearted man | never saw him cry but
once, and that was at the burial of my
mother, After sixty years living together
it was hard to part. And there are aged
people to-day who are feeling just such a
pang as that. ! want to tell them there is
perfect enchantment in the promises of
this gospel, and | come to them and offer
them my arm, l take their arm and l
| bring them to this gospel well. Sit down,
father or mother; sit down. See if there
| is anything at the well for you. Come,
David, the psalmist, have you anything
encouraging to offer them? Yes" says
the psalmist; they shall still bring forth
fruit in old age; they shall be fat and
hourishing to show that the Lord is up
right, He is my rock, and there is no un-
Righteousness in Him" Come, Isaiah,
have you anything to say out OF your pro-
phecies for these aged people! Yes"
says Isaiah; down to old age / am with
| thee, and to hoary hairs will | carry thee"
Well, if the Lord is going to carry you,
you ought not to worry much about your
ailing eyesight and failing limbs.
You get a little worried for fear that
some time you will come to want, do you?
Your children and grandchildren, some
times speak, little sharp to you because
of your ailments. The Lord with ut
speak sharp. Do you think you will come
to want? What do you think the Lord
IS? Are His granaries empty? viii He
feed the raven and the rabbit and the lion
| in the desert and forget you? Why, nat
uralists tell us that the porpoise will not
forsake its wounded and sick mate. And
do YOU suppose the Lord of heaven and
earth has not as much sympathy as the
fish of the sea? But you say Il am so
near worn out and | am of no use to God
any more" L think the Lord knows
whether you are of any more use or not.
| If you were of no more use He would have
| taken you before this Do you think God
has forgotten you because He has taken
| care of you seventy or eighty years? He
thinks more of you to-day than He ever
| did hapaIisa think Of n Nav
| the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and Paul the aged be your God forever.
But | gather all the promises to-day in a
group, and l ask the shepherds to drive
their focks of lambs and sheep up to the
sparkling supply. Behold, happy is the
cause grief, yet will He have compassion"
| Many are the Affections of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out OF them
| ali. Weeping may endure for a night,
| but JOY cometh in the morning. | am
determined that no one shall go out of
| this house uncontrolled
So | come to your timid and shrinking
| soul to-day and compel you to come out
in the presence of the Divine Physician
He will not hurt you. He has been heal
| ing wounds for many years, anu He will
| give you gentle and omnipotent medica-
| ment.
But people, when they have trouble, go
anywhere rather than to God De Quin-
cey took opium to get rid of his troubles,
| Charles Lamb took to punch, Theodore
| Hook took to something stronger, Edwin
Forrest took to theatrical dissipation, and
men have run all around the earth, hop
ing in the quick transit to get away from
| their misfortunes. 1t has been dead
| failure. There is only one well that can
slake the thirst of an afflicted spirit. and
that is the deep and inexhaustible we'll of
the gospel.
| Rut some ono in the audianca sav,S
notwithstanding all you have said this
morning. find no alienation for my trou-
bles." Well, l am not through yet. I
have left the most potent consideration
for the last. am going to soothe you
with the thought of heaven. However
| talkative we may be, ere will come
time when the stout and most en-
phatic interrogation evoke from us
no answer. As soor we have closed
our lips for the final lence no power on
earth can break that tacturnity. But
| where, o Christian, will be your spirit?
1 T., c.. i.