Newport weekly independent., 1901-08-16

l ONAI' NOlIiI LII Is blf t us COllIOEI.
 For that reason 1 have rolled away the stone from the wells mouth. ! Come, all ye wounded of the flock, ! pursued of the wolves, come to the fountain where the Lords sick and | bereft ones have come. "Ah," says some one, you are not old enough to understand my sorrows. You have not been in the world as long as I have, and you cant talk to me about my mis fortunes in the time of old age" Well, I may not have lived as long as you, but l have been great deal among old people, and l know how they feel about their failing health and about their departed friends and about the loneliness that sometimes strikes through their souls.
 You get little worried for fear that some time you will come to want, do you? Your children and grandchil- dren sometimes speak little sharp to you because of your ailments. The Lord will not speak sharp. Do you think you will come to want? What do you think the Lord is? Are His granaries empty? Will 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 it's wounded and sick mate. And do you suppose the Lord of Heaven and earth has not a much sympathy as the fish of the sea? But you say: ''l am so near worn out, and l am of no use to God any more." 1 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 for gotten you because He has taken care of you 70 or so years? He thinks more of you to-day than He ever did, be- cause you think more of him. May the God of Abraham and Isaac and Ja cob and Paul the aged be your God for ever! But l gather all the promises to- day in a group, and 1 ask the shepherds to drive their flocks of lambs and sheep up to the sparkling supply. Behold, happy is the man whom God correct eth" ''Though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion" Many are the | O1 lut lISul6OuSs DuL lUe Lord delivereth him out of them all." "Neeping may endure for night, but joy cometh in the morning." l am | determined that no one shall go out of | this house uncontrolled. Wonder is timid and shrinking soul who seems l to hide away from the consoIa tions I am uttering as a child with a sore hand hides away from the physician lest he touch the wound too roughly, and the mother has to go and compel the little patient to come out and see the physician. So I come to your timid and shrinking soul to-day and compel you to come out in the pres ence of the Divine Physician. He will not hurt you. He has been healing wounds for many years, and He will give you gentle and omnipotent medi- cament.
 But people, when they have trouble, go anywhere rather than to God. De Quincey took opium to get rid of his troubles. Charles Lamb took to punch. Theodore Hook took to some- thing stronger. Edwin Forrest took to theatrical dissipation. And men have run all around the earth, hoping in the quick transit to get away from their misfortunes. It has been dead failure. There is only one well that can slake the thirst of an afflicted spirit, and that is the deep and inex- haustible we'll of the Gospel.
 But some one in the audience says: Notwithstanding all you have said this morning, l find no alleviation for my troubles" We'll, am not through yet. I have left the most potent con- to soothe you with the thought of Heaven. However talkative we may be, there will come a time when the stoutest and most emphatic interroga- tion will evoke from us no answer As soon as we have closed our lips for | the final silence no power on earth can break that taciturnity. But where, l O Christian, will be your spirit? In scene of infinite gladness. The spring morning of Heaven waving it's | blossoms in the bright air. Victors fresh from battle showing their scars. The rain of earthly sorrow struck | through with the rainbow of eternal | joy. In one group God and angels and the redeemed, Paul and Silas, Latimer and Ripley, Isaiah and Jeremiah, Pay son and John Milton, Ga briel and Mi chael the archangel. Long line of choristers reaching across the hills. Seas of joy dashing to the white beach. Conquerors marching from gate to gate. You among them. Oh what great flock God will gather around | the celestial well. No stone on the