News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-01-14
a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Synopsis of Sermon by Rev. #. L, Davis at
the CoDgl Church last Sunday.

gates to the ancient city OF IhebPs.
Through anyone of these gates the
tide of commerce or travel could find
it's way; one would he the gate lend
ing to the business section Of the
city, another would lead to the tenn
pie, others would lead to the parks
and hanging gardens. So, TOO, there
are many gates that open into the
human heart, and God can approach
us along NUMEROUS paths How true
this all is in the iulfilm6nt OF his
promise "tO make all things new"
What are some of these ways?
First of all, new truth makes all
things new. Our character and con-
duct are in great measure settled by
our thoughts. Nothing can be more
important than having right cOncep-
tions of life, duty and destiny. How
great is the power Of a vital truth !!
Centuries ago the Master said, Y
shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free, free from SUI
perstition, free from sin, free from
guilt, free from the death of the soul.
How a new truth breaks the chain OF
habit, how it brings neTcOurage and
hope, how it transfgures character
and life for US Hardly a biography
do you read, but what you find an
illustration of the revolutionary
power of a new truth. | once heard
Henry Ward Beecker tell of the
change that came over his life when
he found that as his own earthly
father loved him, so did God love
him. Haunted by the cruel ideas of
his day, he had gone out into the or
chard one summer day, and while
there this comforting truth flashed
over his mind. 1t rid him of his
doubts and fears ; it gave him the
message of the true gospel, and all
that preaching that was the wonder
and comfort of the world, through a
period of forty years in Plymouth
church, dated back to the truth that
crossed his mind that summer day out
in his fathers orchard. So it is that
God sends his new truth to lead us
into new worlds of experience.
How true it is also, that a new sOr-
row sometimes makes all things new.
Prosperity is a good thing, if we
are equal to its temptations. But
how often it blinds US to the deeper
realities of life. How many people
have been injured by the good things
of life? But when sorrow comes, it
may be the death of O. dear one, it
may be the wreck of ones health, it
may be business failure, what a new
world it is in which we walk? If we
are not rebellious it opens our eyes
to things of which we never dreamed;
it develOpes the finer qualities of char
acter; itreve8ls to us the latentgood-
we'll andsympathy of the community.
We dread our sorrows, that is natur-
all; we enter them as little child
fearing and trembling, would enter
the famous cave of Aladden. Down
he is led into dark, gloomy, pass
age, but as he proceeds along after a
time, faint streaks of light begin to
appear, and at last becomes out into
the light again, and, there before his
eyes, rise the shining pillars of a
palace, empowered in a beautiful
garden. How often is that experience
paralelled in our lives? Our sorrows
so often lead to joy, our pain SO often
changes into pleasure, our darkness
so often melts into light that we can
never know at the time, whether an
experience ought to be welcomed or
dreaded. Our angels come in disguise
and some day we shall find that what
the preacher, the other day. called
the monster DEATH is the best friend
the world ever had, for Ito die is
gain" and death means our heaven
ly triumph.
Then, too, new love makes all
things new. When lif9grows dull and
wearisOme how often new friend
ship introduces us to new world of
happiness. The new friend brings us
new associations and experiences.
This frienpship may come to us while
we are away at college, it may come
in the wanderings of our business life,
in an outing trip, in our attendance
at convention, or it may even come
to us at home. But wherever it
comes, it is a memorable event
for it brings the new sources of ioy
and inspiration to US. So it was that
when Mrs. Browning asked Charles
Kingsley the secret of his success in
life, he replied, II had friend" So
it was that gloomy Thomas Carlyle
said that the coming of Ralph Waldo
Emerson into his life was like the
coming of an angel" And. what,
after all, is Christianity, but a new
love kindled in our hearts for our
risen Master, a new affection for the
great friend who "sticketh closer than
a brother?" When that new love en-
tiers our hearts, how it brings to us a
newworld ofcharactera and experience.
Some timeago gentleman, who had
been an officer in the United Statesex-
petition under Com. Selfridge to Pan
ANA, gave friend of mine an
account of q trip that he made to the
summit of a mountain in the interior
of the 1sthmus. There from that
height marvellous sight met his
gaze. To the east he saw the bound
less waters of the Atlantic, while to
the west stretching beyond the reach
OF vision were the tossing pillows of
the Pacific. That scene, with an ocean
on either side was he said the vision