The Penn's Grove record., 1901-11-01

PIE, but VINO can lutly appreciate ",
far-reaching good done by men of wealth
Mr.. Lister, of Bradford; Edward
Akroyd, of Halifax; Thomas Skies, 0
Huddersfeld; Joseph Wentworth anc
Josiah Mason, and Sir Titus Salt? Thii
last great soul, with his vast wealth, pro
vided 756 houses at cheap rent for SOO(
working people, and chapel and crickei
ground and croquet lawn and coneeri
hall and savings bank, where they
might deposit some OF their earnings
and life insurance for those Who looked
further ahead, and lighthouses and parks
and museums and lecture halls witt
philosophical apparatus, the generous
example Of those men Of a previous gen
Grafton being copied in many places II
Canada and the United States, making
life, which would otherwise be q pro
longed drudgery, an inspiration and
joy.
My text called Job and calls u9 to con.
slider "the sweet influences" We put
too much emphasis upon the acldities Of
life, upon the irritations Of life, upon the
disappointments Of life. Ammianus Mar
c~ellinus said that Chaldea was im olden
times oyerru1 with lions, bVk many Of
them lost their power becYrse the great
swamps produced many gnat5 thai
WOUlI EEE luLD but eyes WI ll1t 4l'A2t 49,
the lions, to free themsel&es Of the gnats,
would claw their own eyes and then
starve. And in our time many a hon
has been overcome by a gnat: The little
singing annoyances Of life keep us
from approaching the sweet influences.
And how many of these last there are!
Sweet influences of home, however PLAN
it may be! That is the harbor into which
we sail; that is the goal for which we
run; that is the place where we rest;
there abide all confidence and affections;
there we lay out Jul plans; there we ex'
tend II sympathies; there we talk over
our successes; there we unload our
griefs. Its four walls shut out a pryilrs
and inquisitive world. Thank God for
the home in which we were born, the
home in which we now live, the home
in which we expect to die!
Not sufficiently do we recognize the
sweet influences Of the wife. We men
are of a rougher mold, and our voice Is
loud, and our n need to Re tanned,
and gentleness is not as much OF a char
acteristic as it ought to be, and we often
say things we ought to take back. 1t la
to change this that the good wife comes
in. The interests of the twain are lden,
teal. That which from outsiders would
be considered criticism and to be resent
ed becomes kindly suggestion. Sweet in
duences that make US better Lien than
we otherwise would have been or could
have been!
The last chapter OF Proverbs .recog
nizes the good wife's influence when it
says, Her husband is known in the
when he sitteth among the elders
Of the land"-that is, his apparel lndi'
that he has some nj to look alter
his wardrobe, and his manners show that
he is under refining influences at home.
But TO one fully appreciates the sweet
influences Of the wife until the dark day
comes and the slight symptoms become
serious and the serious phases OF the dis
order pass into the fatal and the TEN.
Derature is lO6 and medical ingenuity is
exhausted and you are told for your con
that while there is life there
is hope" which means that there Is no
hope at all, and the precious life ilutters
and is gone, and you must put out o.
sigh6 the one who from the day she took
vow amid the orange blossoms under
the marriage bell had been 20 you more
then all the world besides. Then you
as never before what had been
the swea5 influences.
Sweet influences of friendship. Ii we
have behaved ourselves tolerably well
have friends. In our days Of mirth
they come with their congratulations. In
Of sorrow they come with express
of solace. In times OF perplexity
they come with their advice They are
with us at weddings and at burials. Il
is anything good in US they IND
It out, and our f~raiities tlIcJ overlook OF
excuse.
If something appears against us, they
"yVait til / hear the other side"
Ii disaster shall befall US, we know from
when would come the first coincidence
Family friends, chucch friends, business
lifelong friends. In our hearX
Of hearts we cherish them.
Sweet influences Of our holy religion.
surrounded as we IRE by all the ameni
of Christian society-rqen and women
who have felt the refining and eievatlne
power of the Gospel! Sweet influences
Of the Sabbath, ffty-two OF them ehimlte
their Joy into every year! Sweet IN
balm for all wounds and their light ti
every darkness.
The sweet influences OF the heavenly
world, which many wise men thought
for q long while was Alcyone, the centre
Of the constellation Of the Pleiades-
world Of our future residence, as we hope;
world OF chorus and illumination; world
Of reunion; world where we shall be
everlastingly complete; world where ogi
old faculties will be itensided and quick,
ened and new faculties implanted; world
Of high association with Christ, through
whose grace we got there at all, and
apostles and poets, Habakkuk, and St,
John of Patmos, and Edward Young, his
'GJight Thoughts" turned into eternal
day; and Horatius Bonar of modern
and Hannah More, and Mrs
iemans, and Mrs. Sigourney, who struck
their larps till nations listened; and
David, the victor over Goliath with what
seemed insufficient weapons; and Joshua
of the prolonged day in Gideon, and
Havelock, the evangelist hero, and those
fought on the right side. What company
to move in! What guests to entertain!
What ~personages to visit What choirs
to chantl What banquets with lifted
chaliee filed with "the new wine OF the
singdom!!" What victories to celebrate!
The stories of that world and its holy
hils rites come in upon g| souls some
in song, sometimes IN sermon,
sometimes in hours OF solitary reflection,
and t1,-ey are, to use the words Of my
text, sweet influences. But there is one
star that affects us more with ITS sweet
influences than the centre star, the
Alcyone of the Pleiades, and that is what
one Bible author calls the Star OF Jacob
Anu d4lOJHtA DlplC oubhSA N"HhS NHS
ing Star. OF all the sweet influences that
have ever touched our earth those that
from Christ are the sweetest,
Born an Asiatic villager, in a mechanics
living more among hammers and
ard planes than among books, yet
twelve years of age c%onfounding ROBBED
ncc,esiastics and starting out a mission
under which those born without optic
nerve took in the clear daylight and
those afflicted with u~nresponsive tympa
nun We're made to hear and those almost
doubled NJ with deformities were
Strengthened into graceful poise and the
leprous became rubicund and the widows
on'y son exchanged the bier On which
he lay ~lifeless for the arms of his over
mother and pronouncing nine bene
on the Mount OF Beatitudes and
doing deeds and speaking words which
are filling the centuries with sweet in
fuences
Christ started every ambulance,
every electric ray, spread every
soft hospital pillow and introduced all
the alterations and paciieations and
rcscues and mercies Of all time.
He was the loveliest being that ever
trod our earth-more beauty in His eyes,
more tenderness in Ills manner, more
gentleaess in His footsteps, more music
in His voice, more dignity in His brow
more ~gracefuhess in the locks that rolled
anon His shoulders, more compassion in
His soul.
Swcee influences Of tba Holy GboSt