Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-08-12

all sim" oh, the warmth, the gran
deur the magni6cence of the promises
Fountain of JOY
Come also to this gospel well, all yt
troubled. | do not suppose you have eS-
capped. Compare your view of this life
! at 10 years of age with what your view
/ is of it at 40 or 60 or 20. What a great
contrast Of opinion. Were you right
| then or are you right now? Two cups
/ placed in your hands, the one a sweet
cup, the other a sour cup. a cup of joy
and a cup of grief. Which has been
| the nearest to being full, and out of
which have you the more frequently
partaken? What a different place the
cemetery is from what it used to be-!
! Once it was to you a grand city i'm
| prOvement, and you went out on the
pleasure excursion, and you ran laugh
ingly up the mound, and you criticised
in light way the epitaph. But since
the day when you heard the bell toll at
the gate when you went in with the
procession it is a sad place. and there
is a flood of rushing memories that
suffuse the eye and overmaster the
heart. Oh, you have had trouble, trou-
bic, trouble. God only knows how
| much you have had. 1t is a wonder
you have been able to live through it,
1t is wonder your nervous system has
not been shattered and your brain has
not reeled. Trouble, trouble.
If l 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 recita-
ton. Well, what do you want? Would
you like to have your property back
again? NO" you say as a Christian
man, 81 was becoming arrogant, and l
think that is why the Lord took it
away. 1 don't want to have my prop
erty back" Well, would you have
your departed friends back again?
NO" you say, 81 couldn't take the re-
sponsibility of bringing them from a
fearless realm to a realm of tears. 1
couldn't do it." WE'LL then, what do
you want? A thousand voices in the
audience cry out: Comfort! Give us
comfortr' For that reason l have roll
ed away the stone from the wells
mouth. Come, all We 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 l have,
and you can't talk to me about my mis-
fortunes in the time of old age" Well,
l may not have lived as long as you,
but | have been a great deal among old
people, and | know how they feel about
their failing health and about their de-
parted friends and about the loneliness
that sometimes strikes through their
souls. After two persons have lived
together for 40 or 80 years, and one OF
them is taken away. what desolation.
l shall DOT 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. The bond that
bound us is severed. Thou art in glory,
and l am here on earth. We shall meet
again. Farewell! Farewelln'
The Gospel Promise.
To lean on a prop for 80 years and
then have it break under you! There
We're only two years difference be-
tween the death of my father and /
mother. After my mothers decease I
my father used to go around rs though
looking for something. He would often
get up from one room without any /
seeming reason and go to another room, /
and then he would take his cane and /
start out, and some one would say,
Father, where are you going?" And /
he would answer, Il don't know exact /
~ where l am going" Always looking /
for something. Though he was a ten
der hearted man, | never saw him cry
but once and that was at the burial /
of my mother. After 60 years living .
together it was hard to part. And there
are aged people today who are feeling |
just such a pang as that. l want to
tell them there is perfect enchantment
in the promises Of this gospel, and
come to them and offer them my arm,
or l take their arm and l bring them
to this gospel well. Sit down, father
or mother; sit down. See if there is
at the we'll 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 flourishing to show that the
Lord is upright. He is my rock, and
there is no unrighteousness in him.
Come, Isaiah, have you anything to
say out of your prophecies for these
aged people? YES" says Isaiah; down
to old age l am with thee, and to hoary
hairs will l carry thee" Well, if the
Lord is going to carry you, you ought
not to worry much about your ailing
eyesight and failing limbs.
God Never Forgets.
Xo11 oct n Iittlo 1,,or,.iod fo1. fnn1, 10