Newport weekly independent., 1902-02-21

show of g,adness and triumph upon passages of life that are usually thought to be somewhat gloomy; text, Zechariah 14:7: At evening time it shall be light"
 While night" in all languages is the symbol for gloom and suffering, it is often really cheerful, bright and inn pressive. l speak not of such nights as come down with no star pouring light from above or silvered wave tossing up light from beneath murky, hurting, portentous, but such as you often see when the pomp and magnifcence of Heaven turn out on night parade, and 1t seems as though the song which the morning stars began so long ago were chiming yet among the constellations and the sons of God were shouting for joy. Such nights the sailor blesses from the forecastle, and the trapper on vast prairie, and the belated traveller by the roadside, and the soldier som the tent, earthly hosts gazing upon Heavenly and shepherds guarding their focks afeld, while angel hands above them set the silver bells airing AhS. 0iOiy u dOu III l1t HE uGSt dHd on earth peace; good will toward men" !"
 What solemn and glorious thing Is night in the wilderness! Night among the mountains! Night on the ocean! Fragrant night among tropic- al groves! Flashing night amid arctic severities Calm night on Roman cam pagnal Awful night among the cor dilleras! Glorious night mid sea after a tempest! Thank God for the night! The moon and the stars which rule it are lighthouses on the coast toward which 1 hope we are all sailing, and blind mariners are we if, with so many beaming, burning, flaming glories to guide us, we cannot find our way into the harbor.
 My text may we'll suggest that, as the natural evening is often luminous, so 1t shall be light in the evening of our sorrows, of old age, of the worlds his tory, of the Christian life. "At even time it shall be light"
 The prophecy will be fulfilled in the evening of Christian sorrow. For long time it is broad daylight. The sun rides high. Innumerable activi- ties go ahead with thousand arms, and the pickax struck mine, and the battery made discovery, and the in vestment yielded 20 per cent, and the book came to its twentieth edition and the farm quadrupled in value, and the sudden fortune hoisted to high po- sition, and the children were praised. and friends without number swarmed into the family hive, and prosperity sang in the music and stepped in the dance and glowed in the wine and ate at the banquet, and all the gods of mu- sic and ease and qualification gathered around this Jupiter holding in his hands so many thunderbolts of power. But every sun must set, and the bright est day must have its twilight. Sudden ly the sky was overcast. The fountain dried up. The song hushed. The wolf broke into the family fold and carried off the best lamb. A deep howl of woe came crashing through the joyous sym phonies At one rough twang of the hand of disaster the harpstrings all broke. Down went the strong business firm! Away went long blshed credit! Up flew flock of calumnies! The new book would not selll A pat ent could not be secured for the inven- tion! Stocks sank like lead! The in- surance company exploded How much" says the sheriff "will you bid for this piano? How much for this li- brary? How much for this family pie ture? How much? Will you let it go at less-than half price? Going going
 gone!"
 Will the grace of God hold one up in such circumstances? What has become of the great multitude of Gods chil- dren who have been pounded of the fail and crushed under the wheel and trampled under hoof? Did they lie down in the dust, weeping. waiIng and gnashing their teeth? Did they when they were afflicted like Job curse God and want to die? When the rod of fatherly reinstatement struck them. did they strike back? Because they found one bitter cup on the table of Gods supply, did they upset the whole table? Did they kneel down at their empty money vault and say: "All my treasures are gone?" Did they stand by the grave of their dead, saying: There never will be resurrection ?"
 Did they bemoan their thwarted plans and say: "The stocks are down: Would God Iwere dead?" Did the night oftheir disaster come upon them moon less, stariess. danl and howling.